Colony
by Side1ways
Summary: As James embarks on an adventure in Colony, he doesn't expect everything to go horribly wrong during his stay. Meanwhile, Kendall is trying to deal with the disaster that is taking place as the head of security. Can the two of them make it out of this chaotic situation alive?
1. Chapter 1

**So you guys know me by now, so I'm guessing you're not surprised that I'm posting another test chapter 😜 So, yeah, give this a read and let me know what you think! **

* * *

"Come on James, you need to lighten up a little bit! I mean, fuck me, you're getting a promotion for god sakes!" Jett said as James stared out of the window of the train that they were on. The brunet said nothing as a response, just sighed a little bit, causing Jett to roll his eyes, moving from the seat opposite James to the seat next to him. "Do you have some stick up your ass or something? Then again, if you did, you'd probably be a lot happier than you are at the moment" Jett continued, causing James to roll his eyes as he hit Jett on the arm for the comment.

"I just don't get why you're taking me here. I told you, I just wanted a few drinks as a celebration and that was it" James replied, shifting in his seat so that he could face Jett properly. "This whole thing is just too much"

"Dude, you can have a few drinks here. All while fucking your way through half the town! It's perfect for your celebration and for you to go on the rebound after Jason" Jett replied, causing James to blink down a few tears at the name.

"I don't want to think about _that,_" James said, his tone laced with venom, causing Jett to quickly latch on that 'that' was Jason.

"Exactly dude, that's why this is perfect. You can spend the week doing whatever the fuck you want and then when we leave next Friday, you can emerge a whole new man" Jett stated, patting James on the back as he said so.

The brunet let out a sigh. As much as he hated to admit it, Jett was right. This was the perfect opportunity for him to get over…him before he got back to work as the new chief technology officer at Cryptech, where he could essentially begin again.

"Alright, fine, I suppose your right" James conceded, causing a massive grin to grow on Jett's face.

"See, I told you dude! And trust me when I say this place is epic! They practically have everything you'd ever need, and you can do whatever you want! It's gonna be sick! Just, try to have some fun while your there, as I don't need you killing my buzz as well" Jett replied, causing James' eyebrows to shoot up on his face.

"Excuse me, I can be loads of fun" James stated, causing Jett to snort. "What, you think I'm not fun?"

"No, I just think that you don't let yourself go as much as you probably should. When was the last time you actually went _out _out" Jett said, causing James to think back for a brief second, or maybe five. "See dude, you can't even recall the last time that you went out"

"Well, I'm sorry if some of us have to work to get what we want" James replied, causing Jett to let out a loud laugh, a few other people on the train looking over at the two of them.

"It's not my fault daddy has a lot of money" Jett shrugged, causing James to roll his eyes as he turned his attention back towards the window.

It wasn't like he could see much, with them travelling through a tunnel for the last 45 minutes, but it was better than looking at Jett, who always wore that smug look on his face.

Sometimes James wondered how the two of them had become friends, but then when he remembered that Jett was the only person his age at the company, it started to make sense , James couldn't really complain about their friendship too much. After all, Jett had helped bring James to his father's attention, and since then…well, let's just say that James' luck increased quite a bit when it came to promotion opportunities.

James shook his head, trying to get the thoughts out of his head. The brunet knew that he got the promotions because of his skill at his job, and not solely because he knew the boss. After all, he did graduate top of his Software Engineering class at MIT. Again, James shook his head, trying to remove these thoughts from his head. He shouldn't be thinking about work. Instead, he should be focusing on the week that he was going to have, the week he didn't want to have but the one he was going to try his best to enjoy.

A sigh escaped James' mouth.

Apparently, that was going to be more difficult then he'd expected. Before he could get to lost in his thoughts however, he felt Jett swat him on his arm, causing James to look over at him.

"We're here!" Jett said, pushing himself up from the seat before James could even respond. Following his friend, James went and stood at one of the doors, watching as the tunnel finally ended and they were greeted with the sight of a gleaming white immaculate station. As the train came to a stop, the door opened, causing James to step off of the train, glancing around as he took in the sight around him. Jett certainly wasn't wrong when he said that this place was 'epic.'

"Trust me, dude, this is the least spectacular part of this place. Just wait until we get into the park" Jett commented, patting James on the back once again before walking off in some direction. James didn't pay attention to where, he was too fascinated taking everything in. As he glanced around, his eyes landed on someone walking towards him, a tall muscular blond guy wearing a white fitted t-shirt and white fitted trousers.

"Mr Diamond?" the guy asked, causing James to nod, his mouth going slightly dry at the sight of the guy. "Welcome to Colony. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to your room" the guy said, causing James to nod as he began to follow the person in front of him. Before he'd completely left the terminal, his eyes caught Jett's who winked at him.

"Let yourself go!" his friend shouted, his arm already around another guy and girl, who were apparently leading him to his room. James rolled his eyes, knowing that his friend must have set this up.

After all, Jett knew that James' type was blond.

* * *

As he stepped through the doors, Kendall couldn't help but glance around at everyone working on the control room, each of them fulfilling their own part to keep this entire place running. A holographic map sat in the middle of the room, showing off the entire park and Kendall couldn't help but let out a little sigh as he looked at it.

This place just kept expanding, and it kept making his job more and more difficult. As the blond looked at the map, he noticed his boss on the other side of the room, causing the blond to begin heading that way. "How's everything going? Any issues?"

"You're the head of security and safety, surely you should be telling me that" Bitters replied, causing Kendall to roll his eyes, as he fidgeted with his sleeves, one of his nervous habits.

"I mean with the Reps. We've got 30 new guests coming into the park today, and with this new update rolling out, I want to know if there's any unexpected developments that I should know about" Kendall replied, trying his best not to be rude to his best.

Bitters had always been a dick, not just to him but to everyone, so Kendall had learnt not to take it personally. Still, that didn't mean that Kendall didn't want to be snippy back sometimes.

"Why are you asking me, I'm not the head of Rep development."

"No, but you are the boss of everyone here" Kendall replied, before letting out a sigh. "I'll go find Logan. He'll be able to tell me" Kendall said, causing Bitters to glance over at him.

"Good, I've got bigger things to worry about than informing you about your job," the larger male said, causing Kendall to roll his eyes once again before walking to the lift behind him.

Pressing the button for B12, Kendall watched as the doors closed in front of him before the blond leant back on the railing, letting out a deep breath.

He'd meant what he'd said earlier about his job being made more difficult by the day, and Bitters certainly wasn't helping that with his rude attitude. Sure, Kendall had gotten used to it, but the fact that he now had to visit Logan had pissed him off further.

That wasn't in his itinerary for today, and with the lack of staff he had, he couldn't afford to waste time. Another sigh escaped Kendall's mouth, the blond now resting his head against the mirror behind him.

The blond only had 10 staff at his disposal for a park that could hold about 1500 people and had about 2500 Reps in it, so he didn't have time to be running off doing whatever he wanted. Glancing up at the floor count, Kendall noticed how he was getting closer to his stop, causing the blond to take one more deep breath before he pushed himself back up from the railing.

By the time the doors had opened, Kendall was back to his normal confident self, as he tried his best not to think about the looming pressure over him.

* * *

It wasn't difficult for Kendall to find Logan, with the brunet being in the same place he normally was, fiddling with one of the Rep's controls as he tested out a new model that was built. Logan didn't even notice Kendall approaching, causing the blond to lean against the glass door frame as he watched the absorbed brunet muttered to himself while he worked. It wasn't until Logan lifted his head to push his goggles up to his nose that he saw Kendall's reflection in the glass, causing Logan to jump slightly.

"Jesus Kendall, you scared the life out of me," the brunet said, finally spinning around to face the blond, who had pushed himself off of the doorframe. "Can I help you with anything? I'm kinda busy at the moment"

"Playing with your toys?" Kendall responded, causing Logan to roll his eyes at the blond.

"Testing out a new model with the new update on it" Logan replied, walking over to the trolley he had so that he could pick out the next piece of equipment he'd need.

"That's actually what I was going to ask you about," Kendall said, causing Logan to raise an eyebrow at him. "Are there any issues with it?"

"For the 100th time, no" Logan replied, picking up his tablet from the trolley and walking over to Kendall with it. "We've been testing this upgrade out for weeks, and nothing bad has happened with it so far, so I don't think you need to worry about it" the brunet continued, showing Kendall all of the results of the previous tests run. "The update will roll out today, and it'll be like nothing has changed. The Reps will just have a few more lines, and some more gestures and that it."

As Logan spoke, Kendall scrolled through the test results, his attention landing on one test in particular. "What about this test?" Kendall asked, spinning around the tablet so Logan could see it. "It says here that it took two commands before the Rep responded on this one"

"That was an issue with the Rep's hearing. It had nothing to do with the update. Besides, if you'll look here" Logan began, taking the tablet from Kendall's hand and scrolling up slightly to another test. "When we got the same Rep back after they'd fixed its hearing, it responded to the command right away. There is nothing to worry about" Logan repeated, causing Kendall to let out a breath through his nose.

"As long as you're one hundred percent sure"

"I am. Now leave me to get some work done. Surely, you have somewhere else to be, like rescuing a guest from a rattlesnake" Logan replied, causing Kendall to roll his eyes as he walked out of the room, leaving the brunet alone.

Sure, they'd ridicule Kendall now, but if anything went wrong in this park, he'd be the first person they'd call for saving.

* * *

"Can I get you anything? Anything at all?" the Rep asked as he led James into his suite.

"Um, I don't think so. So, do I just get changed or?" James asked, as he glanced around the room, which was huge. As James walked through it, he couldn't help but take everything in. All of the walls were actually just wardrobes, which were filled with tons of clothes, and at the end of the room sat a super king sized bed, a TV and a couch.

"If you wish. Everything was designed especially for you, so you should have no trouble fitting into it. Are you sure that I can't get you anything? I'm here to satisfy every one of your needs" the Rep responded, causing James to swallow the lump that had formed in the back of his throat.

"Um, no I'm good thanks," James said once again, causing the Rep to nod.

"Alright, well take your time, and I'll be waiting outside when you're ready," the Rep said, causing James to smile before the Rep left.

Once he was gone, James let out a deep breath as he perched himself on the bed of his bed. He could definitely see the appeal of this place and the people in it, but something about it to James just felt…wrong. He knew that they were here for his entertainment and to make sure that he was having the best time possible. But still, doing _that_ didn't really appeal to him this week. Sure he wanted to enjoy himself, but that didn't mean that James was going to whore himself out, despite Jett's advice.

Taking one more deep breath, James finally pulled himself from the bed and began to take a look through all of the clothes that the wardrobes contained. He couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at the options he had, but then again, James also appreciated that the whole place was themed around colonization in the 1600's so he knew that he'd have to dress the part as well.

Finding the least…garish clothes possible, James got changed out of his usual clothes and changed into his outfit, finding himself in a pair of black skinny trousers, some high boots and a white shirt with a black waistcoat over the top of it. It certainly wasn't his usual look, hell, it was probably the farthest thing from it, but at least in this, James could leave his room with some confidence and dignity left.

As he opened the door, he was greeted with the Rep waiting for him.

"Ready to move on?" the Rep asked, causing James to nod as he began to follow the Rep down a series of corridors, while the Rep began to speak. "So just so that we're clear, you've signed a waiver which states that you are entering the park at your own risk and that Alpire is not responsible for any injuries that you may sustain during your stay," the Rep said, causing James to nod. "Perfect, and it's worth noting that within the park, the Reps have narratives that will play out. You can decide to join them on these narratives, or you can go off and do whatever you want, it's completely up to you. I will also point out that the challenge and difficulty increase the further you get from Smarthaven, so it's up to you how far you want to voyage. Now" the Rep said, pushing a set of doors open. "Let's get you armed" the Rep finished, James' jaw-dropping at the range of weaponry that was available to him.

Along the left wall sat an array of muskets and on the right wall sat pistols. In the middle of the room, large arrays of weapon stands stood tall, each of them holding a different type of sword or dagger, and some of them even held a few bows.

"Since you're new here, I would suggest a pistol, a musket and a sword as they are the easiest to get used to. The muskets and pistols are flintlock make, which is technically one century ahead in terms of development, but they are much easier to use and fire than 17th-century matchlock designs." The Rep explained, causing James to nod as he took the room in. "As for the swords, there is a mixture between Broadswords and Rapier, with broadswords being best for cutting while rapiers are best for thrusting." The Rep continued, causing James to nod once again, his fingers gliding over one of the weapons. "Again, take your time, and when your ready, we'll get you into the park"

As the Rep walked away, James couldn't help but spin in the room, completely blown away by the number of weapons that were on display. He'd never really seen a gun in real life before this, so it was safe to say that he was in awe by the selection that he had and slightly overwhelmed by it.

It took a few minutes for James to decide what he wanted to choose, but in the end, the brunet ended up going for a simple wood and silver flintlock pistol and musket, before choosing a silver and black hilted rapier to match his theme. Weapons slotted; James headed out of the room to meet up with the Rep once again.

"Good choices," the Rep said, causing a small smile to grow on James' face. "You ready to head into the park?" the Rep asked, causing James to nod. "Then follow me," the Rep said, leading James down a series of more corridors.

When the two of them finally stopped, James was faced with a rather plain looking wooden door. "Just step through there, and your adventure will begin." The Rep said, causing James to nod.

"Perfect, thank you for your help" James replied, causing a smile to grow on the Rep's face.

"Don't mention it, and good luck" he said, causing James to smile once more at him before he walked over to the door.

Hand on the handle, James opened the door and stepped through it, a whole adventure waiting for him.

* * *

**So there we have it! This story is going to be similar to Westworld, a show that I watched a couple of weeks ago, and absolutely fell in love with so I would recommend a watch! I think that's my niche, theme parks going horribly wrong as I also love the Jurassic Park films as well! Anyway, I'm rambling now, and I just really wanted to upload this, so let me know what you think!**

**Anyway, I will see you on Monday for Blizzard, the story I should have been working on, but until then,**

**TTFN 😃🎭**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi Guys and welcome back to Colony! I've had such a good weekend, and I'm such a good mood that I decided to upload this for you all! So, the first chapter of this story was a little bit vague by design, so this chapter will start to explain everything in a little more detail! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

As James stepped through the door, his whole surroundings changed from a set of white corridors to a wooden ship, with him walking into what looked like a function room. As soon as he closed the door behind him, someone was by his site.

"Welcome to the Prosperity, Mr Diamond. Would you like a glass of champagne?" the Rep asked, causing James to nod as he reached over and grabbed the glass.

"Thank you" James replied, causing the Rep to bow his head slightly before he walked off.

"Ahh, James there you are!" Jett's voice boomed through the room, but everyone else seemed to ignore it, as the man came barrelling towards James with a massive smile on his face.

"What is this?" James asked as Jett slid his arm over James' shoulder.

"This is the entrance to the park" Jett replied, causing James to raise an eyebrow at him.

"But we're on a ship"

"Exactly. We're on a ship to the New World, or the New Frontier as some would say"

"What? We're headed for America?" James asked, causing Jett to let out a little chuckle as he shook his head.

"No, this is quite literally the New World" Jett replied, causing James to raise an eyebrow at him.

"I'm so confused. This whole place is themed like the 1600s, and that's when America was colonised" James said, causing Jett to shake his head once again as he patted James on the back, leading the brunet to the opposite side of the room, where a couple more doors were located.

"You're thinking too sensibly James. This place is themed around the 1600s, yes, and it was the age of colonisation, yes, but why would anyone want to colonise America again? That's been done, and people know that continent like the back of their hand. But what people have never done before-" Jett began, pushing open one of the doors to lead James onto the deck of the ship. "Is colonise the continent of Elas" Jett said, leading James to the side of the ship where they could see the continent in the distance.

"Elas?" James asked, turning to Jett with confusion written on his face.

"Yeah! It's a completely new continent that the park's creators have made up so that the whole experience is new. In the North, there are snowy plains, frozen ice caps and glacial valleys. In the South, vast deserts that expand for miles, with nothing inhabiting them. In the East, a huge rainforest, with trees that reach high above the clouds, and finally in the West, limitless grasslands, with loads of wildlife and vegetation ripe for the taking, that's where we dock. Plus, there's everything in between. Swamps, tundra, regular forests, everything James!"

"Isn't that like, climatically impossible for a place as small as this?"

"Who said that this place is small?" Jett replied, causing James to quirk an eyebrow at him. "Some people say that this place is infinite James, that it never ends and that it just keeps going"

"Now that's impossible" James commented, causing Jett to roll his eyes.

"So, I'm guessing that you didn't-" Jett began sliding a finger through a hole he'd a made with his hand. "With the Rep then? Cause if you did, you probably wouldn't be this cranky"

"Fuck off" James replied, causing Jett to let out a little chuckle.

"That's the spirit, James! Let yourself go! Nothing you do here will actually matter in the outside world, so just enjoy it! And that begins by" Jett reached over and pushed James' champagne glass up to his mouth, forcing the burnet to drink it. "Getting a couple of those down you. Come on, we have about 15 minutes before the ship actually docks. Try to at least begin enjoying yourself by the time we reach land." Jett finished, patting James on the back once again before he walked back through the door the two of them came out of, leaving James on the deck by himself.

Well, he wasn't really by himself, as there were a few other people looking out on the continent as well, plus there were the Reps that were acting like they were sailing the ship. James let out a sigh, as he leant against the wooden railing. That's probably where he was going wrong, he kept reminding himself that this was essentially a theme park and that nothing here was actually real. He'd have to try and immerse himself at least a little bit, and stop thinking so literally about everything.

Noticing that the Rep with the drinks was coming round again, James grabbed another glass and swigged this one down just as quickly as the last. He supposed that appreciation could begin by the ship that they were on. From what James knew of 17th-century ships, which to be fair wasn't a lot, this was definitely accurate to their design and from what he could see of the continent in the distance, it was definitely outstanding.

Plus, Jett was right. Nothing that happened here would actually matter, so what did it matter if James let himself go for a week. Like he'd thought to himself earlier, he could have a massive blow out before he returned to work, and began again. The drinks Rep came round again, causing James to grab another glass and down that quickly. If he was going to do this, he was going to do this right and that began by loosening off slightly and letting all the baggage was holding go.

A smug smile grew on James' face at the thought that he could 'throw it overboard' causing him to let out a little chuckle as he returned back into the function room, ready to mingle with some new people.

* * *

Kendall watched the ship dock into Smarthaven from the control room, the blond recognising all of the passengers as they got off one by one. It was company policy for Kendall to review all the guest's profiles before they came into the park so that in case of an emergency, Kendall knew who the high priority guests were that he should focus on saving first.

While Kendall did approve of reviewing all of the guest profiles, the blond hated his reason for having to do so. In his opinion, no one's life was more precious than anyone else's, so there shouldn't be a priority of who to save first, but apparently, the money grabbing owners of the park disagreed, especially when the price of a ticket started at $35,000.

The blond was snapped out of his thought process however when his phone began to vibrate in his pocket.

Letting out a sigh at the fact that this was only going to put him further behind schedule, Kendall reached into his pocket and answered it. "This is Knight"

"You're needed down in Bay 18. We're getting some weird readings and want you to investigate" Logan said into his ear, causing Kendall to roll his eyes slightly at the news.

"Any clue what these weird readings are?" Kendall asked as he turned and started to walk towards the lift.

"We're not sure, but I'm sending one of my programmers down there with you, so she'll be able to investigate"

"Great" Kendall muttered as he stepped into the lift. "Alright, tell your programmer to meet me outside of the bay, and that, under no circumstances, should she enter the room" "Copy that" Logan replied, Kendall pushing the button on the lift as the phone call cut off. This was the last thing Kendall needed to be dealing with today, especially with the 30 new guests entering the park, that he needed to make sure set off ok.

Still, if something was happening with the Reps that had been retired, then he probably should investigate it before anything bad came of it. There were about 2000 Reps alone in retirement, so he didn't need all of them coming back to life on him. As the lift locked into place, and the door opened, Kendall made his way down the corridors, passing the four other bays that existed on this floor before he was greeted with the sight of a familiar face.

"Ah, Miss Roberts, it's been a while since I've seen you"

"I've been on holiday for the last couple of weeks" Camille replied, causing Kendall to shake his head.

"It's lucky for some" he joked, causing her to let out a little chuckle as Kendall swiped his card in front of the reader, unlocking the bay door. "I'm guessing you don't have any idea what the problem is?" Kendall asked, only to receive the same answer that Logan had said.

"Unfortunately not, but hopefully this will be able to shed some light on it" Camille replied, just as the doors had finished opening, revealing a dimly lit room filled with retired Reps that were just standing there, completely still. Grabbing his flashlight from his belt, Kendall turned it on while Camille turned the torch from her tablet on.

"It looks like it's coming from that way," she said, causing Kendall to nod as he placed one of his hands over his gun, ready to grab it quickly in case he needed to. Following Camille's directions, Kendall made his way further into the bay, keeping his eye out for anything suspicious or out of place but nothing seemed to jump out to him immediately.

"These things creep me out. Down here like this" Kendall said idly, as he walked through the rows of Reps. "I mean, they look exactly like humans, but at the same time, they're only machines, designed to look like us"

"Is someone scared of them?" Camille asked, her tone teasing.

"I don't think scared is the right term, but I mean, look at them. Surely this does freak you out slightly?" Kendall asked, causing Camille to shrug slightly.

"I suppose I'm just used to being around them, with me having to program how they act and what they say and all that" Camille spoke up, glancing at her tablet slightly to make sure that she was still going in the right direction. "And the whole point of them is so that they do look lifelike. We want to give the guests the best experience possible, and that comes from making them think that what they're doing is real. But just remember, we program everything the Reps are feeling and thinking. They're not alive Kendall. At the end of the day, they're just another machine." she continued, causing Kendall to shake his head.

The whole thing still didn't sit right with him. Surely there's a point where them looking too human is an issue. Before he could speak up, however, Camille stopped in her tracks.

"It's this Rep here" Camille announced, nodding to the one that was in front of Kendall. Lifting his torch up, Kendall began to inspect the Rep, but when only a rat seemed to climb out of the Rep's head and scuttle away, did Kendall let out a sigh.

"I can't believe they've sent us down here to investigate a rat" the blond began, but when he turned around, his heart nearly burst in his chest as he was faced with a Rep standing right in front of him, staring him directly in the eyes. Hand on his gun, Kendall's eyes shifted over to Camille, the blond too scared to move. "Camille" was all Kendall had to say before the brunette girl began to scan the Rep's head with her tablet.

"It's alright, you can move it won't hurt you" Camille replied, causing Kendall to nod, swallowing the lump in his chest before he stepped to the side. As he did that, the Rep turned once again, rotating with the blond as he moved.

"I thought these things were supposed to be off," Kendall said to Camille, feeling the need to unholster his gun.

"It is, or at least it was" Camille replied, causing Kendall to glance over at her slightly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, causing Camille to show her tablet to the blond.

"The problem is due to degradation of the Rep's wiring" she began, clicking on the tablet to make it load up a larger image. "The Reps down here aren't actually off, but rather they're in stasis, which means that a small electrical current is always circulation through them. In this Rep, however, the wire has degraded so much that the small electrical current is jumping from cable to cable, allowing the Rep some sort of function. It's waiting for you to give it a command."

"Can you turn it off?" Kendall asked, causing Camille to let out a sigh.

"Not without authority from above. You know how Griffin gets about the Reps; he doesn't want any of them destroyed without an explicit reason. Hence why all the ones that aren't in use are kept down here" Camille replied, causing Kendall to let out a sigh.

"Alright, well I guess we should schedule this one in for an electrical overhaul then. We can get the constructors to sort out the electrics and then it can be put back down here"

"I've just scheduled it in" Camille stated, causing Kendall to nod.

"Alright, then let's get the hell out of here. This place gives me the creeps" the blond replied, causing Camille to nod as they began to make their way out of the room. Of course, as soon as Kendall took a step, the Rep followed, causing Kendall to have a mini heart attack for a brief second when it did it the first time. "You stay here," Kendall said to the Rep, causing it to nod slightly as Kendall took a step back, the blond relieved when it didn't follow him again.

Kendall picked up the pace from that point out, hoping to get out of the bay as soon as he possibly could, and as soon as Camille was out of the room with him, he swiped his card once again, causing the doors to close.

"Well, at least that's one less thing to worry about," the blond said, causing Camille to nod alongside him as they both walked back towards the lift. "Although you might want to get some others to check over the rest of the Rep's in case they need some repairs as well"

"Is someone paranoid?" Camille replied, causing Kendall to let out a little chuckle, watching as the lift got closer to Kendall's next destination.

As the lift locked into place, and the doors opened, Kendall spoke up one last time. "It's my job to be paranoid"

* * *

As James stepped off the ship, he couldn't quite believe the sight that was in front of his eyes. A mixture of stone and wooden buildings seemed to fill the scene, each of them looking as stunning as the next, and the main street seemed to be bustling with people, each with their own purpose. James stood on the dock in awe, and when he felt someone pat him on the bad, he knew that Jett had finally joined him.

"What did I say in the lobby?" Jett said, causing James to let out a little chuckle.

"You certainly weren't wrong. This place is marvellous" James replied, turning to face Jett who just nodded towards the town.

"Come on, let's take a look," Jett said, causing James to nod as he began to follow his friend. As the two of them walked off the dock, they were immediately bombarded with people calling and shouting at them.

"Help us rid these lands of the Apenimon" One man shouted, dressed in a very militant looking outfit.

"Who?" James asked Jett as they bypassed the guy.

"They're the native people to the continent," Jett replied, causing James to raise an eyebrow slightly.

"So, why do they want to go after them"

"Let's just say that the Apenimon aren't happy about new people turning up. But don't worry about that, it's just a boring narrative"

"Fresh fish, get your fresh fish!" Another woman shouted, interrupting their conversation as she walked past with a basket of dead fish. The smell wafted in James' direction, causing the brunet to scrunch his nose up in disgust.

"This is where we want to be headed!" Jett finally said, causing James to turn his attention to the local tavern.

"A bar? Really? This is the first place you wanted to head?" James asked, causing Jett to let out a little chuckle.

"This is the first place any adventure should head. And technically, it's a tavern" Jett replied, as he stepped up towards the doors. "We go in, learn about some juicy gossip or some buried treasure and then we set out on our adventure."

"We're about a century early for buried treasure" James stated, but it went ignored as they walked in. The tavern, much like the main street, was filled with people drinking, gambling and generally just having a good time.

"Come on, let's get a drink," Jett said, not even waiting for James' response as he walked up to the bar. With very little room to argue, James followed him up, the two of them leaning against the bar. "Two rums please," Jett said, causing James to raise an eyebrow at him.

"I don't really drink rum," James said, causing Jett to roll his eyes.

"Well, you do today" Jett replied, as he turned around on the bar so that he was facing outwards. "What's up? I feel like you're still not completely on board" Jett said, causing James to shrug.

"I guess I'm just a little confused" James replied, as the bartender sat a couple of glasses down in front of them and filled them.

"Confused about what?" Jett asked before taking a swig of his drink.

"Well, this place is themed around the 1600's right?" James asked, causing Jett to nod. "Then surely everything should be a little…less developed. Like take the houses outside for instance" James replied, causing Jett to shake his head.

"You're taking everything too literally James" Jett replied, causing James to glance over at him. "Yes, it's set in the 1600s, but it can be set within any point during that century. So what if the houses are a little too developed, or something are slightly out of place, this place was built for fun and enjoyment, not authenticity. If it was authentic, we'd all die of typhoid or the flu" Jett replied, causing James to take a swig of his drink. "Just enjoy it. We can go out and fight pirates on the water if we wanted like they did in the late 1600s, or we can go and kill some natives, like the early 1600s. Hell, we can even go to some unsettled land and build a house if that's what you want to do." Jett continued, causing James to roll his eyes.

He wasn't _that_ boring.

"The time period doesn't matter. What does is that we're having a good time and celebrating your promotion. The whole point of this place is that we can do whatever the fuck we want, and as long as you're enjoying yourself, then that's all that matters. And we can begin that by making a toast. To your promotion!"

"To my promotion!" James repeated before the two of them both downed their drinks in one. James shuttered at the taste of it, feeling it burn as the liquid slid down his oesophagus, but as soon as he put his glass back down, the bartender was over, filling it back up again.

"I haven't seen you around here before," a voice from behind said, causing James to spin around, only to be greeted with a brunette girl wearing a tight corset along with a skirt. "Maybe I can show you around? Give you a taste of Smarthaven" the woman continued, now placing her hand onto James' pec as she bit her bottom lip.

Of course, as soon as that happened, Jett burst into laughter next to him. "You're barking up the wrong tree there love"

"Oh," the woman replied, removing her hand from James' chest before walking over to Jett. "And what about you?" she asked, causing Jett to grin.

Jett said nothing as he let the woman grab hold of his hand. Before he walked away with her, however, he said one last thing. "See, if this were authentic, you'd be dragged out of here by your feet and shot for wanting it up the ass"

That caused James to roll his eyes, turning back to the bar as his friend was led away by the prostitute. It was in moments like that when James really doubted his friendship with Jett.

* * *

**So there we have it, James and Jett have arrived in the park, with James still a little unsure about the whole thing, and Kendall went to investigate an error with one of the older Reps, which just turned out to be an electrical issue, but will that be all?**

**I want to give a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11 and RainbowDiamonds for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! Hopefully, this helped clarify things from the last chapter and I can't wait to see what you have to say about this one!**

**I'm on a bit of a writing spree at the moment, so hopefully at some point this week, you'll also be seeing the next chapter of The New Frontier, which is about 4 months late and contains Jo's, Logan's and Lucy's stories! And of course, you will be getting Rush and Response on Thursday as well! But until then,**

**TTFN 😃🎭**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi Guys and welcome back to this story! So, it's definitely been a while since this was uploaded, so I would recommend reading the last couple of chapters! **** As a quick reminder, James and Jett have visited Colony, an interactive theme park, to celebrate James' promotion and to help him move on from his relationship, and Kendall works as head of security as that said park. ****But anyway, let's crack on with this, shall we?**

* * *

As Jett was led away by a prostitute, James turned his attention back to the bar for a brief second, only to notice that his drink was filled again. This time instead of downing the drink, James found himself swirling the liquid in his glass as he stared at it. As much as he judged Jett for his behaviour, James could also reluctantly admit that sometimes he was slightly envious of it.

Jett was very comfortable in himself and who he was, knowing what he liked and doing what he needed to do to get it, whereas James wasn't like that. He'd always been slightly timider, slightly more reserved, wanting meaningful relationships instead of one night stands and hook-ups, and while that didn't mean those types of situations never happened, James always felt wrong after them.

Swallowing his drink quickly, James couldn't help but think about his latest relationship with Jason. James finally thought that he'd found the one with Jason. He was nice, sweet, charming, intelligent, funny and hot as fuck. The two of them seemed to gel immediately, getting along with one another like they'd known each other for a lifetime and James felt like he could finally relax for once. After all the work he'd put in, he thought that Jason was finally his reward.

But that didn't turn out to the case. After a relationship of three years, James walked in on his boyfriend with someone else in the bed they'd shared. Wiping the tears that had formed in his eyes, James noticed that his drink had been refilled once again before also noticing a figure standing opposite him. Glancing up, James noticed the barkeep wiping the surface down next to him.

"Want to talk about it?" the barkeep asked, causing James to shake his head as he downed the drink.

"I'm good thanks" James replied, before clearing his throat. "I'm going to go for a walk. Can you tell my friend to come find me when he gets back" James asked, causing the barkeep to nod. With that, James made his way out of the bar…out of the tavern and back into the bustling streets of Smarthaven.

James could see why people got so captivated by this place, believing that everything going on was real. Unfortunately, the cynical part of James kept reminding him that in fact, none of it was real. Not even most of the people he was about to interact with. _'Let yourself go!' _Jett's words replayed through his mind, causing him to let out a sigh.

He supposed he could give it a try.

* * *

As James walked through the town of Smarthaven, he found himself heading back towards the docks, where he'd first stepped foot on this new continent of Elas. The strong smell of fish seemed to fill the air once again, something that James grimaced at but when he heard the man from before shouting again, James couldn't help but indulge his earlier curiosity.

"You Sir! Have you come back to help rid these lands of the Apenimon" The man asked, pointing at James, causing the brunet to shrug slightly.

"Who are the Apenimon?" James asked as he rocked from one foot onto the other, trying to get comfortable as he stood. Something told him that he was going to be here for a while.

"Why, they're vicious, intolerant savages!" The man responded, causing James to raise his eyebrow slightly. That's when the man let out a sigh, causing James to realise how remarkable the reps were once again, as he felt a breath of air hit his cheeks. "They're the indigenous people to the continent and they haven't been very welcoming to us"

"Do you think that's because you invaded their lands?" James retorted, causing the man to glare at him slightly.

"We did no such thing. When we arrived, we sent out scouts and found that this coastline wasn't inhabited at all, hence why we settled here. However, since the town's been built, they've been violent. They've slaughtered 20 men that we sent out to explore and we've got word that they've got 10 more hostages, one of which is my brother."

_'Even familial relationships are programmed into them! And look, he even looks distraught' _James' brain supplied, but he tried to push it to the back of his mind. He was trying to immerse himself into the experience, not detach himself further from it.

"Have you tried talking to them?" James asked, causing the guy to let out a sad laugh.

"That's the first thing we tried, but they can't be reasoned with. They're savages, monsters and the only thing they seem to recognise is a bullet between the eyes" The man responded, before letting out a sigh. "Please, help me save my brother," The man asked, his eyes pleading but before James could respond, he felt someone tug on his shoulder, turning him around.

He was greeted with the sight of Jett, looking slightly dishevelled causing a smirk to grow on his face.

"That was quick" James stated, causing Jett to roll his eyes.

"Har har. This tank has already been drained twice today, so that shouldn't be a surprise" Jett responded, causing James to roll his eyes in response. "You weren't talking to this guy were you?" Jett then asked, causing James to shrug ever so slightly. "Oh god, I told you earlier that this was boring" Jett continued, causing James to glance back at the man, who's eyes were showing the feeling of dejection.

_'The emotional range of these reps is incredible!' _James' brain supplied once again but he quickly pushed the thought aside as Jett spoke.

"So, anyway, I got talking to Crystal"

"Crystal?" James interjected with a smug look on his face, clearly judging the name, something that Jett rolled his eyes at but continued, nonetheless.

"Yes Crystal, and she told me about some fancy gem or something like that. So maybe, we should go looking for it"

"Oh, you mean the Sacred Jewel of Elas," The man James was previously talking to said, before launching into a monologue. "You know when the expeditions first arrived at this place…"

"Look what I've done. I've booted the guy into a script" Jett tutted as he tuned the guy out. "Anyway, Crystal basically said that it's worth a lot of money and we'd get a lot of prestige if we got it, so I think we should go check it out," Jett said with a look on his face that said to James he'd already made the decision for them.

"Sure, why not" James replied, causing Jett's grin to grow as he clapped James on the back.

"Attaboy! And just think, with all this prestige, we'll have the whole town pining for us! You might finally even get laid!" Jett continued, his hand quickly dropping to James' ass and squeezing it, causing the brunet to jump slightly. As he did so, he heard movement from behind him, causing him to turn back to the man.

"Here, take this map! It's said to lead you to where you're supposed to go. Seems a little easy to me but it might be useful" the man said causing James to grab the map from his hands.

"Come on, it's getting dark, so why don't we grab a hotel for the night and then we can grab some horses and set out first thing tomorrow," Jett said, causing James to nod as he looked down at the map. It looked like the entire continent, with only one cross on it potentially marking this jewel's location.

"Yeah, that sounds good," James replied, before looking the man in the eyes. Despite the monologue he'd just given, James could still see the sorrow in his eyes, causing James to let out a sigh. "Why don't you go ahead and get a couple of rooms. I just want to finish up here" James stated, causing Jett to nod.

"Alright, but don't expect me to wait for you. There's someone checking me out over there and if we're going on an adventure, I want to make sure I'm taken care of before we leave" Jett replied, causing James to roll his eyes once again as his friend disappeared.

With that, James turned his attention back to the man. "Why don't you mark the rough location of your brother on this map. Maybe I'll be able to save him along the way" James stated, causing the man's face to light up as he did as James said.

"Thank you so much!" the man said as he drew a circle onto the map. Once that was done, and a nod was exchanged, James found himself making his way to the hotel, the thought of what he'd done still lingering in his mind.

With him still feeling a bit detached from this place, he might as well take up every chance he can to immerse himself thoroughly.

If that had to be done by reunited a family…well let's just say that that probably wasn't the worst way to start.

* * *

"And the update is officially live" Logan stated, causing everyone in the control room to let out a sigh of relief. Well, everyone but Kendall that was.

"Any initial issues?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to let out a soft chuckle.

"Kendall, it's been live for less than a minute and you're already worrying? You need to chill out. I told you, we've had no problems in the weeks of testing that we've done before this launch, so nothing is going to go wrong" Logan replied, but Kendall's eyes were already narrowing in a massive red spot that had appeared on Logan's tablet.

"What about that? That doesn't look good" Kendall replied, pointing at the spot. As a response, Logan double-tapped on it, causing it to zoom into the area, showing about 50 smaller dots combining together.

"That's just the update processing for the Reps in storage. It's easier to update them now then it is to update them if we need to pull them. That way, they're ready to be up into the park right away" Logan responded, causing Kendall to nod, albeit sceptically. For some reason, the blond had a bad feeling about this whole update and despite what everyone said, he couldn't shake it.

"Kendall" Bitters said, causing the blond to turn towards his boss. "Why don't you go get some rest. The park's descended into night and most of the guests are sleeping so you probably don't need to be here. Go get some sleep and we'll let you know if the Reps start murdering people, or you know, a guest wants a chocolate bar" Bitters continued, causing Kendall to roll his eyes at the last portion of the sentence.

It was clear that Kendall that everyone wasn't taking both this update or his job very seriously. Without responding, Kendall found himself heading out of the control room and towards his on-site apartment.

The blond had said this before, and he was probably going to end up saying it a hundred more times. They'd all mock him now, considering the park had never once had a security issue, but as soon as it does, they're going to be begging for his and his team's help.

And with the limit amount of them available, Kendall was sure he was going to have to prioritise would be going to get it.

* * *

**So there we have it! A shorter chapter but one setting up the next part of the story! I hope you guys enjoyed it!**

**I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11 and RainbowDiamonds for reviewing the last chapter! You all seemed to have an opinion of Jett already and I'm pretty sure this chapter hasn't helped with that! I would also like to thank the same people but also EpicallyObsessed in addition for reviewing not only the last chapter but every chapter in Blizzard! I'm glad you all enjoyed that story and just know that your constant support means the world to me!**

**Also, I feel like I should mention that I will try to participate in the Major Event Challenge on the BTR plot adoption forum! Being a Geography Student who wants to go into studying natural disasters, I feel like I would be a missed opportunity if I didn't! Anyway, I wasn't sure who to message about it, as everyone I know already seems to be participating so this is a call out to you readers that if you want to check it out and participate then just head over to the forum and give the rules a read! Just a quick side note, that I have no clue how the forums work, so I thought I would post it here instead of messing something up over there!**

**Anyway, I hope that you're all staying safe amongst everything that's going on and I will see you next Monday for the next chapter of this! But until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi Guys and welcome back to Colony! Not much to say here today, so let's crack on with it, shall we?**

* * *

James stared at the animal in front of him, completely confused about how to proceed.

"What am I supposed to do. I've never ridden a horse before and I don't put much stock in you as a teacher" James stated, causing Jett to roll his eyes at the slight insult.

"Dude relax, it's a piece of piss. The park wouldn't put horses in if people couldn't ride them." Jett began, stroking his horse one last time before heading over to James. All you've got to do is climb on its back and then point it in the direction you want to go. It pretty much does the rest from there" Jett continued, causing Jams to raise his eyebrow at him.

"Pretty much?" James asked, his voice filled with a little bit of scepticism.

"Well yeah. You already know that the difficulty increases the further out from Smarthaven you get, but by then you'll have mastered it" Jett shrugged, causing James to let out a sigh at his friend's misplaced faith. "Come on, just climb on so we can start this adventure! As much fun as it is fucking my way through this town, I want to shoot something now" Jett exclaimed as he headed back over to his own horse.

With one swift movement, Jett climbed on his horse causing James to try and replicate the process. It wasn't as flawless as his friend's, but it seemed to do the job. With that, James got his horse moving, albeit slowly and once he was alongside Jett, the conversation picked up.

"So, which way are we supposed to be going for this Jewel?" Jett asked, causing James to reach into his pocket and pull out the map. James hadn't glanced properly at it yesterday but giving it a study now, he saw on detailed it was. Like most maps, lakes, rivers, caves and ravines were all shown as well as the bordered to each of the new biomes they'd encounter. As Jett had explained, Smarthaven was surrounded by vast grasslands but beyond that, the biomes seemed to get more complex and numerous.

Finally catching sight of where the man had circled the location of his brother, James saw that it was towards the South East, bordering the desert and the savanna biomes whereas the Jewel was straight east, deep in the heart of the rainforest. James shuddered at the thought of all the insects and animals that the rainforest would contain, but thankfully Jett's voice broke him out of it.

"So, where are we headed?" Jett asked, causing James to startle slightly before putting the map away.

"The jewel is towards the east, but according to the map, there's a massive ravine separating us, so we'll have to head south-east and then loop back up" James explained, causing Jett to nod, something that James let out a sigh too.

He knew that Jett wouldn't support this rescue mission, especially after the attitude that he'd exhibited towards the man. The best thing that James could do is keep Jett in the dark until they arrived at the man's supposed location and from there, hope that Jett would at least cooperate enough to help James free the man.

Zoning back into the world, James realised that Jett was talking to him the entire time, mostly about the fame and recognition that Jett believed they were going to get for finding and returning the Jewel. Of course, a thought popped into James' head as Jett spoke and as soon as he found a lull in the conversation, he spoke up.

"Surely this won't actually matter" James stated, causing Jett to glance over at him with an eyebrow raised. "I mean, we'll find the Jewel and that'll be great but once the reps are reset, then we'll just be normal people again" James continued, causing Jett to let out a sigh.

"Seriously dude, do you need to be a downer about this" Jett began, shaking his head. "We really need to get that stick out of your ass and dick up it"

"Fuck off dude" James interrupted, causing Jett to let out a little chuckle.

"What? It's true. You're still detaching yourself from this place instead of embracing it. So what if the Reps are reset and they don't remember us. We'll just go on another adventure and get more fame. This place is all about doing what we want and if I want to find a Jewel to get famous for a short-lived and make the most of it, then I'm going to do that. If you keep thinking that nothing you do here is going to matter, then you're never going to have fun" Jett continued, causing James to let out a sigh.

As much as he hated to admit it, Jett was right and he had been every single time he said it. Still, there seemed to be a mental block stopping him from getting to engross in anything and James knew exactly where that had come from.

"Damn, Jason really messed you up" Jett spoke up, practically reading the thoughts in James' brain.

"I know" James replied at first, letting out a sigh as he did so. "I think subconsciously, I'm so scared to get too into anything else because I've got this nagging feeling that everything's going to go wrong" James confessed, his eyes trained to the ground as he spoke. When he felt a hand on his shoulder however, he looked up to see Jett with a sympathetic smile on his face. The brief thought about how close their horses must be crossed his mind, but James shook the thought out of his head as Jett spoke.

"That's why I brought you to this place dude, because nothing can go wrong. This whole place is designed for you to do whatever you want to do, and you create your own story. It'll only go wrong if you want it to" Jett replied, causing James to nod slowly. "So, like I said all of yesterday, try to relax and enjoy it. In here, you're the author and if we say that we're gonna find this jewel then you can fucking bet we're gonna find it!" Jett exclaimed, causing James to nod with veracity.

"You're right, so let's go find this jewel" James stated before whipping the reins of the horse causing it to speed up.

With that, the two of them began their long journey across Elas to find the jewel, with a quick pit stop of course, not that Jett needed to know about that.

* * *

When Kendall walked into the control room late afternoon, he was greeted with the sight of a couple of technicians tracking something on the main map. With an eyebrow raised, Kendall walked up to said technicians, reading their computer readouts over their shoulders as he spoke.

"What's going on?" Kendall asked, as he scanned the data being present.

"One of the Reps from storage has made its way into the park" A technician said, causing Kendall's eyes to widen for a brief second.

"What, how is that even possible?" Kendall asked, causing both of the technicians to shrug.

"That's what Logan's trying to figure out. We've just been tasked with tracking it" A technician replied, causing Kendall to push himself up from the back of their seats.

"I want this data forwarded to me immediately" Kendall said as he walked towards the lift. Hearing a beep from his tablet, Kendall knew he'd received the data, but he'd deal with that in a moment. As for now, he needed to find a certain someone, tell them 'I told you so' and then figure out what the hell caused this to happen.

The lift ride down was a swift one and as soon as the door opened on the engineer's floor, Kendall could see the worry had set in. Everyone was frantically walking from room to room, comparing data as well as sharing theories as to what happened. As much as Kendall wanted to bask in it, he knew that he didn't have time to do so, causing him to walk straight to Logan's office. The blond didn't even bother knocking as he walked in, causing Logan to startle slightly, before trying to play it off as if nothing was happening.

"Oh Mr Knight. How can I help you today?" Logan asked, causing Kendall to pull his tablet from his pocket and unfold it, showing Logan the tracking signal of the loose Rep.

"You can start by telling me how a Rep from storage was able to get into the park" Kendall stated, causing Logan to swallow a lump in his throat.

"We don't know" Logan responded as Kendall put his tablet away, causing the blond's eyes to narrow on Logan.

"What do you mean you don't know" Kendall asked causing Logan to shrug.

"Exactly that, we don't know how it happened. In order to gain access to those bays, you need an access card, except the logs are showing that one wasn't used. In fact, they're actually showing that the bay was opened from the inside" Logan confessed, spinning his computer round to show Kendall.

"From the inside? Do the cameras inside the bays show that?" Kendall asked, Logan shaking his head as he spoke.

"The cameras don't know anything. The footage they capture was corrupted so we can't get access to it" Logan explained, causing Kendall to let out a sigh as he ran his hand through his hair.

"We need to get that Rep" Kendall stated as he pulled out his tablet before continuing. Not only is it a security threat, but it will also hold of the answers we need"

"Then I'm coming with you" Logan stated, causing Kendall to raise his eyebrow at him.

"Shouldn't you stay inside? Isn't that your job?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to scoff slightly.

"My job is to work on the Reps and I'd say this counts" Logan replied as he began to gather a few essential bits.

"Alright, the tracker shows that he'd towards the east of the park, so we'll grab a buggy and drive through the service accesses until we're close enough. That way, we'll limit guest exposure and hopefully won't ensue a panic" Kendall explained, causing Logan to nod.

As soon as Logan was ready, the two of them left his office, with Kendall getting straight onto his radio.

"This is Knight. I need four guards to patrol the bays and I also need to buggy ready in service access 3" Kendall spoke, causing Logan to glance over at him.

"Four guards? Isn't that like, half your staff?" Logan asked, causing Kendall to nod.

"Yeah it is, and as of the moment, they have the most important job in this place. We don't need anymore boxed Reps getting out" Kendall explained, causing Logan to nod beside him. The two of them walked in silence for the rest of the way, both of them with a lot running through their minds.

Kendall couldn't help but think back to his experience with Camille and the rep following him. However, whatever was going on here seemed a lot more sophisticated than a wiring problem.

Still, Kendall couldn't deny that he hoped he was wrong and the answer to this was a simple one.

* * *

"So at what point do things started to get harder?" James asked as he and Jett trotted through the open grasslands.

Throughout their journey so far, which had been about half a day, James had seen a variety of animals, all of which were none aggressive that had caused the thought to pop into his head.

"Is it like a gradual increase or will we hit a point where things seem dramatically more difficult, like the horse is gonna buck me off" James asked, causing Jett to let out a little chuckle.

"First off, relax. The horse isn't gonna buck you off unless you piss him off. And secondly, it's more of a gradual increase" Jett replied, before glancing around to see if anyone else was there. When he saw no one, he turned back to James. "If I'm being honest, it doesn't really get much difficult than this. Sure, the wildlife becomes more dangerous and the natives become more violent, but it doesn't really matter since we can't be killed. At most, you'll get an arrow or sword flesh wound, or some animal will put a couple of bite marks in your arm, nothing too serious" Jett stated, causing James to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat.

To Jett that may not be too serious, but to James, a bite mark was definitely something that he didn't want.

"So, we can't be killed or seriously injured?" James asked, causing Jett to shrug slightly as he waved his hand.

"So and so. The reps and the animals can't injure us severely, but you could die if you threw yourself into that ravine you mentioned earlier, hence why we signed a death waiver"

"We signed a death waiver?" James asked, shocked by the news considering he'd never seen it.

"Relax, I signed it for you, but that doesn't matter because, at the end of the day, we're not gonna die. At most, we'll get scratched but unless you're stupid enough to walk off a ravine, which I know you're not, we're gonna be fine" Jett reassured, causing James to nod, albeit slowly.

At least he could take some comfort that he couldn't die but if he was being honest, it would have been nice to know about the death waiver before he'd stepped foot in the park. Still, as Jett said, he wasn't an idiot so the risk of death of minimal. The two of them rode for what felt like hours before the sun finally began to set.

"Alright, we'll make camp here and continue on tomorrow" Jett stated as he climbed off his horse, causing James to do the same. "Do we have any camping equipment? Like a tent or something?" James asked causing Jett to let out a little chuckle.

"Nope," Jett began, grinning as he did so, causing James to raise his eyebrows. "What we need to do is grab some wood, start a fire and then try to get comfy on the ground" Jett continued causing James' eyes to widen dramatically. "You don't seem very happy about that," Jett said, causing James to shake his head as he let out a little chuckle.

"I went camping as a kid, so I'm used to this. I'm just shocked that you're participating in this. I would have thought you'd want a nice comfy bed and a brunet to fill it with"

"Well, I have the brunet" Jett winked, causing James to shudder ever so slightly, something that Jett laughed at. "And I told you to embrace this place and this is me doing exactly that. So, let's go find some wood"

It must have taken them about 15 minutes to get all set up and sorted, but once they were settled around a warm fire, James finally let out a sigh. His legs were killing him from all the riding he'd done, so he couldn't help but lay on his back as he looked up at the stars.

"So, how far have we actually travelled today?" Jett asked, causing James to reach into his pockets and pull out the map. Figuring out exactly where they were proved a difficult task but with the help of some key landmarks, James was soon able to figure it out and as he did so, he let out a chuckle.

"What?" Jett asked, causing James to throw the map over to him.

"So, we started in Smarthaven, and we're now about halfway between the mountains in the north and the lake in the south" James explained, causing Jett to double-take the map.

"Dude, I told you this place was massive" Jett stated, causing James to nod along.

"I know, but I don't think I really realised what you meant" James stated, causing Jett to let out a little chuckle. "At the rate, we're going, it's gonna be a good couple of days till we get there"

"Yeah, but now that you're used to riding horseback, hopefully, we can pick up the pace tomorrow" Jett replied, causing James to nod.

"Yeah, hopefully. As for this moment, I'm going to sleep. I'm absolutely knackered" James stated, causing Jett to let out a soft chuckle.

"Goodnight, and if you're this tired today, just wait until tomorrow" Jett replied, causing James to grimace slightly at the thought.

Still, as he stared up at the stars, he couldn't help but feel like he finally immersed himself, and that thought alone was enough for him to drift off.

* * *

**So there we have it! James and Jett have begun their adventure while Kendall and Logan are dealing with a little bit of a security breach! **

**I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you're enjoying it! You all seemed to agree that there was going to be some sort of problem, which of course, I'm not going to comment on. But you all know me 😉**

**Anyway, I hope that you're all staying safe and healthy and I will see you next week for the next chapter of this! But until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi Guys and welcome back to a Thursday update of Colony! So, yeah, this is a few days late, but here we are nonetheless! I don't have much to say here really, apart from I hope that you're all staying safe and healthy! But with that, let's crack on, shall we?**

* * *

Night had risen over the park by the time that Kendall and Logan entered it via the buggy, causing Kendall to remember how huge the whole place was. The two of them had been driving through the service accesses for hours until they finally reached this spot, so Kendall was definitely thankful for the fresh air.

As well as that, with the sun set, the chance of them being seen by guests was lowered and Kendall knew that the two closest guests to them were currently asleep, so hopefully, this would be a smooth operation.

"Any update on the Reps position?" Kendall asked Logan, causing the brunet to shake his head as he glanced down at the tablet on his lap.

"It hasn't moved, which I have to admit, is a relief" Logan replied causing Kendall to let out a sigh.

"At least that makes our job a little easier" Kendall stated, causing Logan to hum in agreement before the buggy went silent, the two of them thinking about what to say.

The two of them had never really had a working relationship, with Kendall only going to Logan if something was needed and vice versa. For them to be in a buggy with each other for hours was definitely testing the limit of their conversational skills.

"So, you got any ideas as to what could have caused this?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to shake his head. "Still nothing?"

"Nothing. I've been running tests and calculations this entire time, and nothing has shown up" Logan replied, causing Kendall to let out a sigh as his hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"What I don't get is that this entire time you've been telling me that this update is fine and nothing is possibly going to go wrong with it and yet as soon as it's launched, we're having to chase a rogue rep across the park in an attempt to capture them before they do anything wrong. How is that possible?" Kendall asked again, causing Logan to shake his head as he shrugged.

"Look, I don't know ok? The update has absolutely no bugs or loose bits of coding in it whatsoever, so there's no way that this could be responsible for this" Logan began, now glancing back down at his tablet as he began once again to run projections and models. "It could have something to do with the faulting wiring issue that you and Camille discovered but that doesn't explain why and how the rep managed to open the…" Logan trailed off, causing Kendall to glance over at him. As he did, he noticed that the brunet's eyes were trained on his tablet.

"What?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to shove the tablet into his face.

"Look at the update serial number" Logan stated, causing Kendall to look at it, albeit briefly due to the fact that he was driving.

"What? It's showing that this is update 324.5"

"Yeah, but I was working on 324.4" Logan replied, causing Kendall to glance over at him again.

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that this isn't the update that I reviewed"

"But how is that possible?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to let out a brief sigh as he pulled something up on the tablet.

"So, I'm the head of the Engineers, which means that any software developments and such have to go through me before they're put out into the park. However, with major updates, especially like this one, before they get published into the park, they go to Griffin, since he's the guy that designed everything." Logan explained, causing Kendall to glance over him, with a questioning expression

"So, you think that Griffin tampered with the update?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to let out another sigh.

"Except that doesn't make any sense. I mean, surely the guy who recreated all of this wouldn't miss something or make a mistake. Would he?" Logan asked, causing Kendall to shrug as he shook his head.

"All I know is that that Rep will hopefully provide us with the answers we need" Kendall replied, before pressing down harder on the accelerator. They needed answers.

Otherwise, the speculation was only going to get worse.

* * *

It was about an hour after when the two of them approached the transponder signal, and as they did so, Kendall was quick to slow down the buggy, noticing that there was no one or nothing in sight.

"You're sure this is the right location?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to nod as he once again put the tablet in the blond's face. This time Kendall didn't hesitate to grab it from him as Logan spoke up.

"This is definitely the right location and it's the same location it hasn't moved from this entire time" Logan replied, his tone slightly defensive as Kendall jumped out of the buggy and began to follow the tablet to the precise location where the tracker was leading.

The blond was completely confused as to how the two of them could have arrived at a location without finding the rep they were tracking, but as Kendal approached the exact spot where the tracker led, his question was answered.

Stopping about a foot away, Kendall noticed something flashing in the dirt, causing the blond to crouch down in order to gain a closer look.

Pushing the dirt out of the way, Kendall was greeted with the sight of a very small metallic object, which seemed to be flashing a red light. Well, that's what Kendall believed until he pulled the object closer to his eyes, only to realise that the light wasn't red, but instead something red was covering the emitter.

"Holy shit," Logan said as he approached Kendall, causing the blond to quickly turn and face him, the small object in hand. "But that's impossible" Logan continued, causing Kendall to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Is this what I think it is?" Kendall asked causing Logan to shake his head as he ran his hands through his hair.

"It can't be, it's impossible" Logan reiterated, causing Kendall to thrust the object into Logan's face.

"It's not impossible, look! Somehow, this Rep has managed to remove it's tracking implant" Kendall stated, causing Logan to shake his head once more, running briefly back to the buggy to grab the tablet of his own.

"No, I'm telling you, Kendall, it's impossible" Logan replied, pulling up the specifications for the Rep models they use. "The tracking implant is placed into the Rep's necks so that if they remove them, their whole internal system shuts down. This physically isn't possible"

"Unless someone placed the tracking implant in a different location" Kendall countered, causing Logan to look at him confused.

"What?" Logan panted, finding himself worked up by the whole ordeal.

"If the tracking implant was placed somewhere different like the arm, then it could be possible to remove it without their entire system shutting down"

"That's theoretically true, but it's not possible. Firstly, someone would have to place the tracking system in a different location, which none of my staff would even risk doing because of the consequences. Secondly, it would require the Rep to know where the tracking implant was in order to remove it, which they don't. No Rep is programmed to conceive the existence of a tracking device, let alone know how to find and remove it" Logan replied, causing Kendall to let out a sigh.

"I understand everything you're saying Logan, but it doesn't excuse the fact that I'm stood here holding a tracking device, with no Rep to be found," Kendall said, his eyes glancing down to the floor for a brief second as he spotted something else in the dirt. "I'm starting to think that this goes a little deeper than just a dodgy update, but in order to get our answers, we need to find that Rep" Kendall stated, shoving the tracking device into his pocket before making his way back towards the buggy.

"But without the tracking device, how are we going to find the Rep?" Logan asked, following Kendall back to the buggy.

"The old fashioned way" the blond replied, causing Logan to look at him, with visible confusion on his face. "There's some footmarks in the dirt leading East. We'll have to follow them for as long as we can, but they're not gonna last long so hopefully, we'll find another clue along the way" Kendall replied, causing Logan to nod.

With a sigh, Kendall shoved the buggy into drive, following the tracks as they led east. Still, something about this told Kendall that it wasn't going to be as easy as just following footprints.

* * *

James awoke to the sun glaring in his eyes, causing him to quickly cover them using his hand as he pushed himself up from the ground. His neck and back felt stiff, probably from sleeping on the floor all night, causing James to roll his neck, before trying his best to crack his back.

As he did so, he heard Jett groaning behind him, his friend probably also be awakened due to the sunlight.

"Morning sunshine" Jett stated, causing James to let out a soft chuckle as he turned towards his friend.

"The sun isn't going to respond to you" James replied, causing Jett to smirk.

"Who's to say I was talking to the sun" Jett replied, causing James to scoff as he rolled his eyes. Still, he couldn't help the smile that had grown on his face.

"So, what's for breakfast?" James asked, causing Jett to let out a little chuckle.

"Whatever we can catch" Jett replied, now pushing himself up from the ground. "I'm hoping there's gonna be a few rabbits about" Jett continued, causing James to glance at him, confusion written on his face.

"I thought everything in this place was robotic?" James asked, causing Jett to tilt his hand from side to side as he stretched.

"Sort of. The animals are robotic, but they have synthesised meat on their synthesised bones. I think they're able to 3D print some sort of protein compound, but that's not important. What is, is that we can eat it" Jett replied, causing James to shrug his shoulder.

"I'm trusting you on this one" James replied, causing Jett to let out a scoff.

"Who are you, and what have you done with James. He's never trusted me" Jett replied, causing James to let out a little chuckle.

"What can I say, it's a new day" James replied, causing Jett to not so subtly roll his eyes. "Now why don't you go and catch something while I start this fire" James continued causing Jett to let out a little laugh.

"Fine, but if I catch this, you have to get dinner" Jett replied, causing James to nod his head.

"Deal" James replied, before bending down and pulling some matches out of his pocket.

With that, the two of them began their day, and once breakfast, which happened to be pheasant, was consumed, the two of them continued on their journey, which Jett still believed was to find the Jewel of Elas.

While he wasn't wrong, James checked the map, noting that they were still heading in the right direction to save that man's brother.

* * *

While James told Jett yesterday that they were a good couple days away from the Jewel's location, which he wasn't wrong about, James found that they were approaching the location of the man's brother by the time the sun began to set. Jett was still in the dark about the whole thing, so as they approached the crest of a hill, which seemed to overlook the Apenimon camp, James knew that he needed to confess.

"I need to tell you something" James started, coming to a stop just before the two of them could see what was over the other side.

"Look I know. I'm pretty hard to resist, but we're just friends James" Jett replied, causing James to very obviously roll his eyes.

"Har har" James stated, causing a smirk to grow on Jett's face. "But no, it's not that. I may have kinda took us on a detour this last couple of days" James confessed, causing Jett to glance over at him, his eyes narrowing on James as he got his horse to climb to the top of the hill.

"You didn't" Jett stated, causing James to let out a sigh, joining Jett who was overlooking the camp.

"Look, I promised that guy that I would save his brother. Besides, this whole hunt for the jewel is your idea, so I thought I could just do something I wanted before we carried on" James defended himself, causing Jett to shake his head. "Look, whatever you say, this is going to happen, so what I need you to do is stay here, while I go down there and try to negotiate with them ok?" James asked, causing Jett to let out a sigh.

"Fine. I suppose I did tell you to try and enjoy it and if this is what you want to do, then so be it" Jett replied, causing James to nod his head firmly one last time as he climbed off his horse.

"Alright, I'll see you in a minute" James replied, handing his horse's reins to Jett before he slowly began to descend down the hill.

As he did so, he put his hands into the air, to show that he wasn't holding a weapon and he could very clearly see both the Apenimon tribe and the prisoners they'd taken.

Approaching the gates of their compound, James was quick to stop, noticing that three of their people had drawn arrows on his, while three others approaching him with swords wielded.

"What are you doing here invader," One of the Apenimon asked, causing James to let out a shaky response.

"I've come to negotiate for the release of your prisoners" James replied, causing the Apenimon to scoff at him.

"Negotiate? What could you possibly have that we want?" Another of the Apenimon responded, causing James to shrug his shoulders slightly.

"Alright, that's a fair point, but this doesn't have to be violent. If you simply spoke to the residents of Smarthaven, I'm sure that you could come to some sort of understanding so that people stay clear of your land" James replied, causing them all to once again scoff at him.

"'Our land.' You invaders are so ignorant. We don't own any land, we simply just borrow it while we live before returning it when we die, something that you outsiders don't understand" One of the bow-wielding Apenimon said before another took over.

"And now you come here, demanding that we set free the very people that set out to slaughter us. That's not going to happen. In fact, we're only going to gain one more prisoner" A sword-wielding Apenimon said, and as soon as he finished, the sword wielders began to charge at James.

The brunet's only response was to flinch, and that only intensified when he heard a loud bang sound from behind him. James waited for an impact, only to find that after a few second, nothing had hit him.

As he opened his eyes, James was greeted with another bang before his eyes quickly locked onto the sight of one of the tribesmen falling to the ground with what looked like a bullet wound in their chest.

James spun around, finding Jett charging down the hill firing his two flintlock pistols off horseback, his friend firing at anything that moved.

James' eye line followed Jett the whole time, from his friend's charge down the hill, all the way to when his friend stopped right in the middle of the camp, continuing to fire his weapons.

To say James was shocked would only describe half of his feelings, the other half being a mixture of disgust that Jett could do something like this, and a small bit of thankfulness that James didn't have to face the might of three swords and three arrows.

It was when Jett began to free to hostages, after he'd shot all of the natives in the camp, that James found his voice again and, not surprisingly, he instantly began to scold Jett for his actions.

"What the fuck Jett! You just shot everyone in the camp!" James exclaimed as Jett cut the ropes binding the hostages' hands together.

"Err, yeah, you're welcome" Jett replied, causing James to throw his hand into the air.

"'You're welcome?' That's all you have to say? You just shot like 15 people" James yelled causing Jett to roll his eyes.

"See, this is the point where you separate the fact from the fiction. They're not people James, and me shooting them doesn't actually mean anything. They'll just be sent back to get repaired and then they'll be placed right back here" Jett explained, causing James to shake his head.

"Still, it doesn't feel right. Besides, I had it all under control" James replied causing Jett to let out a little chuckle.

"Yeah, right. If it wasn't for me, you'd have like three arrow wounds and multiple sword wounds" Jett explained, causing James to grumble slightly at Jett's insinuation. With that, Jett cut the binding off the last hostage, who ran straight up to James.

"You've come to save us, did my brother send you?" The man asked, causing James to nod. "Oh thank you so much! I'll return to him immediately and tell him what you did for us" the man continued, causing a small smile to grow on James' face at the fact that the man was freed.

Jett, on the other hand, just scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, the hostages are free. Can we now crack on with our hunt for fame and glory?"

James just nodded at his friend's request, untying his horse from Jett before climbing onto it.

As they rode away from the camp, James couldn't help but focus on the bodies that laid on the ground, blood pouring out of them.

Jett was right, this was probably the time where he needed to separate the fact from the fiction. They weren't humans, they were just Reps, which would be repaired and placed back in their staged location.

Still, James couldn't help but feel like it was massively wrong to use them for target practise, especially when he was starting to realise that they could not only think, but also feel.

* * *

**So there we have it! Kendall and Logan arrived at the rogue rep's location to find nothing, only deepening the mystery and James and Jett have successfully free the hostages, although the way Jett went about it didn't sit right with James! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! You all seemed to think that something was definitely going to go wrong on Kendall and Logan's end, which this chapter seemed to make worse! Also, you were all curious to see what James and Jett were going to face, so I hope this answers that for you as well! Of course, I can imagine that you're going to be disapproving of Jett's actions!**

**Anyway, I will see you all next week for the next chapter of this! I make no promises for next Monday, but there definitely will be a chapter out at some point next week! Also, keep an eye out for my Major Event Challenge submission, which will be out at some point next week as well!**

**I hope that you're all staying safe and healthy with everything that is going on, and see you next week! But until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi Guys and welcome back to a very delayed chapter of Colony! I just firstly want to say thank you to everyone who voted for me in the Major Events Challenge, it meant so much to me to see that you all enjoyed it! I'm gonna stop here before I ramble on too long so let's crack on with this long-overdue chapter, shall we?**

* * *

Kendall and Logan followed the tracks for as long as they possibly could, with Logan analysing the tracking implant the entire journey. Still, the brunet couldn't wrap his head around how this could have happened and his analysis didn't discover anything that could help them. Kendall, on the other hand, was trying to piece everything together himself but that was also proving difficult to do.

Nothing about this whole thing seemed to add up, so he had no idea what was happening let alone why. However, all that pondering seemed to come to a conclusion as the tracks Kendall was following come to an end, in the location Kendall and Logan dreaded the most.

"You can't be serious" Logan began, climbing out of the buggy as soon as it came to stop. "Kendall, we're not actually considering going in there are we?"

"I don't think we have a choice" Kendall replied, also climbing out of the buggy as he stared into the rainforest that sat on the eastern coast of the continent. "If the rogue Rep has gone in there, then it must be for a reason"

"Yeah, and that reason is probably death" Logan replied, causing Kendall to glance over at him. "Come on, you must have heard the rumours"

"What, the rumours that when someone goes in, they don't come out. Come on Logan, you can't really believe that" Kendall replied, rolling his eyes.

"I'll have you know that being this far east means we're well in the bounds of the hardest difficult zone." Logan began, swiping on his tablet before he continued. "Plus, I know what kinds of stuff is in there because I programmed it. There are poisonous snakes, insects that will burrow into your skin and a tribe that doesn't take kindly to explorers" Logan continued, causing Kendall to turn to face him, rolling his eyes every so slightly.

"Yeah, but you're forgetting that we can't be killed by all of that Logan. Everything in there is pretty harmless when you think about it" Kendall continued; Logan's eyes now trained on the ground causing Kendall to grow suspicious. "What are you telling me? We can't be killed by this place Logan right? Right?" Kendall asked, his tone turning from certainty to a plea as he spoke.

When Logan finally responded, it was done with a long sigh and very few words. "Not directly" The brunet stated, causing Kendall to race over to him and place both hands on his shoulder, gripping him so tightly that Logan had to look up.

"What the fuck do you mean 'not directly'" Kendall exclaimed, causing Logan to let out yet another sigh.

"Well, for example, those poisonous snakes contain actual poison, which in itself is a hallucinogen. One bit from it and within minutes, you'll begin to hallucinate. Within hours, your body will feel like it's on fire and you'll be in so much pain that you can't move. As you're lying on the floor writhing in pain, that's when the burrowing insects come along. You're in so much pain that you can't even feel them burrowing into your skin but as more and more of them do so, the amount of blood you lose is immense" Logan replied, causing Kendall to glare at him slightly.

"And I wasn't informed about this? Surely park security should know about this so that we can stop guests from getting killed!" Kendall exclaimed, causing Logan to let out a sigh.

"This is why the guests have to sign a death waiver. Everything is included in that. Besides, hardly any of the guests ever make it out this far" Logan replied, before letting out a sigh. "And on that note, I feel like I should tell you that I'm not going in there for that reason"

"Logan, we need to find that rep. We don't know what's going on, and without this rep, we never will" Kendall replied, causing Logan to shake his head.

"Kendall, the two of us are never going to find the rep in there, at least not without help. But if I go back to my lab, then I can get access to one of the satellites and try to track the rep's heat signature. This rainforest goes on for hundreds of kilometres without this, it's likely we're gonna get lost or killed. At least with me in the lab, you have a better chance" Logan replied, Kendall noticing how Logan's language changed from 'we' to 'you'.

It took a few seconds for the blond to consider what Logan had said, but by the time he was done, he knew Logan was right.

"Fine, but if this place is as bad as they say it is, then I want you on the mic and constantly surveying my surroundings. Deal?"

"Deal" Logan responded, before passing Kendall his tablet. "It's going to take me a few hours to get back to the lab, but as soon as I'm back, I'll contact you" Logan replied, causing Kendall to nod as he made his way to the back of the buggy.

Pulling out some essential equipment like a pistol, machete and rucksack filled with food and water bottles, Kendall sorted himself out before turning back to Logan, who was already sat in the driver's seat, ready to go.

"As soon as you get back" Was all Kendall said, causing Logan to nod and with that, Kendall watched as Logan drove away. Letting out a sigh, Kendall dropped himself to the floor and pulled out one of the water bottles from the bag.

He knew that this was a bad decision, hell probably the worst decision he was going to make in his life but he really needed answers and if it took him trekking through a deadly jungle by himself, then that's what he was going to have to do.

* * *

As James climbed off of his horse, he couldn't help but look up at all of the trees that seemed to stretch forever into the distance.

"Are you sure it's safe to go in here?" James asked, causing Jett to tut and roll his eyes as he climbed off his own horse.

"Of course, it's safe. They wouldn't include somewhere like this in the park if it wasn't safe" Jett replied, as he unstrapped his equipment from the horse's side. "Besides, as I said earlier, nothing in this park can kill us! So, you ready to head in?" Jett continued, causing James to let out a sigh as he glanced down at the map one last time.

There was no mistaking it, the Jewel of Elas was definitely somewhere in there and James knew that Jett wasn't going to rest until they found it. Following Jett's lead, James unstrapped his own equipment from his horse, causing another question to pop into his mind.

"And you're sure that we can't take the horses in here?" James asked causing Jett to nod once again.

"Positive. James, you can see the density of the rainforest from here. No horse is going to be able to traverse this. Instead, it's going to be us on foot, chopping at branches and climbing over puddles" Jett replied, causing James to let out a sigh.

"So, should we set these horses free or something then?" James asked, causing Jett to let out a little chuckle.

"James, relax, we're going to be fine and so are they. The horses will probably just graze the local area until we return" Jett replied, causing James to nod, albeit disbelievingly. With the last of his equipment on his back, James made his way over to Jett, map in hand causing his friend to glance at him. "So, which way are we headed?" Jett asked, causing James to glance down at the map before back up at the trees.

"Well, the map marks the tallest tree as a landmark so I say we head for that and then go from there" James proposed causing a smile to grow on Jett's face as he clapped the man on the back.

"Then lead the way, intrepid explorer" Jett exclaimed, causing James to glare at his friend, knowing that Jett was taking the piss out of him.

All Jett did was let out a little chuckle at James' actions causing the brunet to let out a sigh as he took his first step towards the towering biome that stood before him. Within 5 minutes, the two of them were surrounded by nothing but enormous trees, dense shrubbery and the cacophony of sounds that that local fauna was making, causing a chill to travel down James' spine.

As much as Jett insisted that this place was safe, James couldn't help the feeling that this was the place where he died. About half an hour passed before either one of them spoke up again, the two of them completely focused on navigating what James would describe as 'the worst place he'd even visited.'

Flies seemed to swarm around him, causing him to constantly be swatting them away, however, the incessant buzzing sound they made was a reminder that he'd never get rid of them all. On top of that, James couldn't help the feeling that they were being watched causing his eyes to flick from the ground to the surrounding area constantly.

With exposed roots and shrubbery filling the ground, James knew that his constant attention should probably be on not falling over, however, the uneasiness that had settled in his stomach made that difficult.

Whenever he heard a twig snap, he was convinced someone was coming to attack them, despite the fact that beside him and Jett, this rainforest seemed to completely empty.

Letting out a sigh, James found himself coming to a stop as he rested against one of the humungous trees that littered the area.

"What's up? You alright?" Jett asked from behind him causing James to nod as he grabbed his canteen full of water and took a sip.

"Yeah, I'm good, just need a break" James replied, causing Jett to rest beside him, doing the same.

"Alright, we'll have five minutes and then we'll carry on. Don't want to stay in one place for too long" Jett stated, causing James' eyes to narrow on Jett at his words.

When his friend didn't elaborate however causing the thought to now run rampant in James' mind. He knew from the very beginning he was going to regret this, and this only seemed to make that worse.

* * *

"We have a problem," Logan said, causing Kendall to jump at the sudden emergence of Logan's voice. The blond must have dozed off while waiting for Logan to get back to the base. Stretching, Kendall responded.

"What kind of problem?" Kendall asked, now pushing himself up off the floor, working out a kink in his neck. "Have you found the rep?"

"I have, but I'm also picking up two more heat signatures. By the looks of it, two guests are making their way through the rainforest as well" Logan replied, bringing Kendall to his senses almost instantly as he found himself now walking straight into the rainforest.

"I thought you told me that hardly any guests make it out this far!" Kendall exclaimed, swinging his leg over a collapsed tree trunk.

"I was right, they don't but it turns out that these two have" Logan responded, causing Kendall to let out a sigh.

"Alright, guide me to their location and I'll turn them around before anything bad happens to them" Kendall stated and although he couldn't see it, he knew Logan was shaking his head from the slight rattling that seemed to come from a headset.

"In this case, it would be better for you to carry on your trajectory. You should intercept the two of them and be able to turn them back in about an hour"

"An hour?" Kendall asked, letting out a sigh as he did so. "But what about the rep? Won't that put me another hour behind them?" Kendall continued, now ducking under a low hanging branch.

"Not by the looks of it. This rainforest has seemed to slow its progress so if you continue at this pace, you should be able to get to the guests and make time doing so" Logan replied, causing Kendall to nod, albeit reluctantly.

"Alright, keep me up to date on both the reps and the guest's locations," Kendall stated, knowing that this job just got a lot more difficult.

Still, his main priority in this instance was the safety of the guests, despite how much he wanted to know what was going on with the rep.

* * *

**So there we have it! Kendall and Logan found that the rep has headed into the deadliest place in Elas, the rainforest on the east coast and of course, James and Jett have also ended up at the same location! **

**I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11, EpicallyObsessed and RainbowDiamonds for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you liked it! You all seemed to agree that what Jett did was not the greatest, and you're all curious to see what's going to happen with the rep, so of course, no spoilers!**

**I also want to apologise for not uploading for a good few weeks, but I promise that I'll try to get back on a weekly schedule! In other news, I'm now completely finished with my university degree which is a very scary thought! Anyway, I hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy!**

**I will see you all sometime next week for the next chapter of this, but until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi Guys and welcome back to Colony! Not a lot to say here today, so let's crack on with it, shall we?**

* * *

James had no idea how long the two of them had been venturing through the rainforest, but from their position, James would have to estimate about 45 minutes. The enormous tree that the two of them were trekking towards never seemed to get any closer and James wondered if that was a testament to the size of the tree or the rainforest itself.

The whole time he walked, he could hear Jett behind him, his friend either blowing out a breath, exerting effort to climb over something, or mumbling a swear as he swatted something from his face. James knew that Jett was as done with this as he was but every time James tried to even broach the topic, Jett just insisted that he wanted to carry on and find this Jewel, causing the two of them to trek on.

At this point, James was really hoping that this jewel was worth it, especially when he considered the number of insect bites that he'd received. Letting out a sigh, James steeled himself and continued to push forward, climbing over a tree root that has broken ground and that when he heard it.

From nowhere, a loud hiss filled the space around them, quickly followed by Jett letting out a scream followed by the word 'fuck' exclaimed rather loudly.

James was quick to turn around, only seeing the end of the snake slithering off into the brush but it left no doubt in his mind that caused it. Following that, James quickly rushed over to Jett, taking some of his friend's weight as Jett lifted his injured leg into the air.

"You alright? What happened?" James asked in rapid succession, causing Jett to let out a sigh as he nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm guessing I didn't see the snake and must have stepped on it" Jett replied, slightly wincing in pain before continuing. "I'll be fine, I just need a few minutes and I should be able to walk"

"Are you joking? Jett, you're in no condition to continue" James replied, causing Jett to tut and roll his eyes.

"James, it's only a snake bite. I haven't come all this way to be deterred by a little pain" Jett replied, and James could see the determination in his eyes, causing the brunet to concede.

"Fine, but at least let me clean and bandage it so it doesn't become infected" James stated, causing Jett to nod. Leaning Jett against a local tree trunk, James lifted the bottom of Jett's trousers around the bite, in order to get a better look at the injured area.

Present was two small holes where the snake's fang had entered Jett's body but other than that, the area looked fine. With the lack of modern medical supplies, James found himself wrapping a ripped piece of shirt around the bottom of Jett's leg, hoping it would be enough to stop it from getting worse.

With that, James pushed himself up from his knees, before helping Jett off the tree trunk. Jett winced when first putting some weight onto his injured leg, but after a few strides, the pain seemed to subside, causing the two of them to continue on as they were before, if not more cautiously so that this incident wasn't repeated.

* * *

"You need to hurry up and get to the guests as soon as possible," Logan said into Kendall's ear, startling the blond slightly as he followed Logan's instruction.

"Why, what's wrong? They're not in danger, are they?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to let out a sigh.

"One of their heat signatures has spiked massively and that's one of the symptoms of a snake bite" Logan replied, causing Kendall's eyes to widen for a brief second as he picked up his pace one more.

"Am I still heading in the right direction to intercept?" Kendall asked, Logan letting out a brief hum before replying.

"Yeah, but you're still roughly 15 minutes out" Logan concluded before the mic went silent once more.

Adjusting the bag on his back, Kendall began to run whenever it was possible, hoping to cut into that 15-minute estimation.

* * *

"Did you see that?" Jett asked, causing James to come to a stop beside him.

"What? I didn't see anything" James replied, causing Jett's eyes to widen as he shook his head.

"Are you sure? I swear I saw a massive, black object moving past the trees" Jett stated, causing James to quickly spin around before meticulously scanning the area around them.

From what he could see, nothing of the sort was in the area causing James to let out a sigh as he turned back to Jett. "Jett, there's nothing he-"

"There! I saw it again, it's there!" Jett interrupted, pointing directly over James' shoulder causing the brunet to spin around once again. There was definitely nothing there, but that didn't stop Jett from freaking out behind him. "Oh my god James, it's a massive black bear! James, what do we do?" Jett shouted, causing James to turn back to him with his eyebrow raised.

"Jett, there's nothing there" James stated, but that didn't seem to help Jett, who had his hands covering his face as he shook in fear. James wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation, so he took a few deep breaths before helping guide Jett down onto a fallen tree.

As he did so, Jett pulled his hands away from his eyes, a massive look of shock on his face as he did so.

"We're not dead?" Jett asked, causing James to shake his head, grabbing both of Jett's shoulders as he crouched down in front of him.

"No, we're not, because the bear didn't exist Jett" James replied, but it seemed to go unnoticed as Jett's eyes widened once again.

"James, don't freak out, but there is a blackbird perched on your shoulder and it's eyeing me up" Jett stated, clearly trying his best not to freak out once again.

Now, James knew for a fact that nothing was perched on his shoulder, but that didn't mean that a cursory glance was necessary. Looking in his peripheral, James was then sure that nothing was perched on his shoulder but he was confused as to why Jett believed there was.

Letting out a sigh, James began to remove the bandage from Jett's wound and as he did so, he couldn't help but gasp at what he saw. The bite was swollen and become infected, with green puss oozing out of the wound.

Acting fast, James removed the rest of the ripped cloth from Jett's leg, before rummaging in his bag for something to clean the wound with. Finding nothing, James ripped another bit of cloth off from his shirt before pouring a small bit of water hoping it would help.

With that, he slowly pressed the cloth against Jett's wound, causing his friend to scream out in pain as he did so.

"What the fuck James!" Jett screamed, causing James to flinch slightly at the sudden noise.

"I'm sorry, but I need to clean it! The wounds infected Jett!" James replied, causing Jett to let out a groan as he threw his head back.

"Fine, but just be gentle" Jett replied, causing James to nod before slowing moving the cloth across the wound. With that action, Jett screamed out again, and James knew that it would just be better for him to do this all at once.

Better one bout of intense pain then prolonged exposure to it, right?

With that in mind, James continued to clean the wound, feeling Jett's hand latch onto his shoulder before squeezing it intensely. Amid the screams, however, Jett found time to speak again.

"James, someone's coming towards us! James, there's someone coming!" Jett insisted, causing James to shake his head.

"Jett, there's no one there. I think you're seeing things" James replied, not taking Jett's words into consideration as he continued.

"Will you just stop doing that for one fucking second and look! Someone is coming James!" Jett continued, causing James to let out a sigh as he pulled the cloth away from Jett's leg, stopping any sounds of pain origination from Jett.

That, however, also allowed James' ears to tune back into the environment and when he heard a twig snap from behind him, the thought that Jett was right crossed his mind. James was quick to get to his feet and spin around, but as he did so, he was shocked by the sight that greeted him.

Stood in front of him was a blond-haired man with piercing green eyes, taking James breath away as he looked into them. On top of that, the man was wearing a black shirt, which seemed to perfectly accentuate his muscular body, causing James' mouth to dry slightly at the scene.

Thankfully the man spoke up before James got too lost in his thoughts, bringing him back to the present situation.

"Don't panic, my name's Kendall, I'm head of park security" Kendall stated, slowly approaching the two of them as if to give them a few moments to adjust. "Can I ask what happened to your friend?" Kendall continued, causing James to nod as he swallowed the sudden lump that had formed in his throat.

"Oh, yeah, he was bitten by a snake" James stated, causing a panicked look to quickly grow on Kendall's face as he quickly crossed the space between him and Jett.

"How long ago did this happen?" Kendall asked, causing James to stutter briefly as he responded.

"Err, I don't know, maybe about 10-15 minutes ago?" James replied, causing Kendall to nod as if he were confirming something.

"Logan, are you hearing this? Is there anything we can do?" Kendall spoke, causing James to quickly look around, searching for someone else, while Kendall waited for Logan's response.

"I don't know! I didn't make the venom; I just programmed the snake!" Logan stated, causing Kendall to tut slightly.

"Then find the person who did and asked them! Or better yet, access the files on the computer and see there! Surely, there must be an antidote or some kind of leaf that we can put on it or something!" Kendall replied, Jett now screaming out in pain once again.

In response, Kendall rummaged around the ruck-sack he was carrying, finding a small first aid kit in the bottom of the bag. The kit provided the standard equipment, allowing Kendall to give Jett some pain killers while he wiped the wound clean with some provided wipes, still waiting for Logan's response.

"Ok, so remember when I said that nothing in the jungle can kill you directly? Well, that still holds true. The snake venom won't kill him, but he is gonna be in severe pain for the next few hours"

"Ok, so I have some good news" Kendall stated, causing both Jett and James to glance at him. Turning his attention to Jett, Kendall continued to speak. "So, you're not going to die. Apparently, the snake venom won't kill you, but the bad news is that you're going to be in pain for the next few hours"

"I have to spend the new few hours in this much pain?" Jett yelled, causing Kendall to flinch slightly at the harsh tone.

"Unfortunately, but I suggest that we head back out of the rainforest. Logan, how far away is the closest guard?" Kendall asked, causing a quick flurry of typing to occur before a response.

"An hour away, but Kendall, you've still got to go after that rep" Logan reminded him, causing Kendall to shake his head briefly.

"Guest security comes first Logan. Now, can you alert that guard to come meet us and I promise after that, I'll go find that rep" Kendall stated, causing Logan to let out a sigh.

"Alright I'll do it, I just hope this doesn't put you too far behind" Logan replied, before the mic went silent once again, causing Kendall to turn his attention to James.

"Ok, I have someone coming to meet us at the edge of the rainforest, and he'll take you and your friend back to town, where he can weather the rest of the pain," Kendall said to James, before turning his attention to Jett. "How are you feeling?" He asked, causing Jett to let out a deep breath.

"A little better. The pain killer is working, but it still fucking hurts like hell" Jett responded, causing James to let out a little chuckle.

"He's fine" James stated, helping Jett to his feet while Kendall packed his stuff away.

"Alright, I'll lead the way. Just keep an eye out for anything on the ground" Kendall stated and with that, the three of them began their return journey back towards the edge of the rainforest.

While Kendall couldn't ignore the fact that he was travelling away from the rep, he didn't feel guilty about it. He signed onto his job to keep people safe and that's exactly what he was doing.

* * *

**So there we have it! Jett got bitten by a snake, but thankfully they were able to deal with the situation with the help of Logan, although the solution is less than ideal! Still, we got the Kendall/James introduction, so that has to be worth something right?**

**I want to say a massive thank you to Winterschild11 and Guest for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Kendall certainly wasn't able to get to them before any bad happened, but at least he's there to help them now!**

**I hope that you're all staying safe and healthy with everything that is going on at the moment, and I will see you all next week for the next chapter of this! But until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi Guys and welcome back to Colony! I don't have much to say here, so let's crack on, shall we?**

* * *

By the time Kendall, James and Jett had reached the edge of the rainforest, the alerted member of staff was waiting for them with a buggy.

Letting out a sigh, Kendall helped Jett into the back of the buggy before heading towards his staff member in order to provide further instructions.

As the blond did that, James flung his equipment into small storage space at the rear of the buggy before heading towards the unoccupied seat. When he heard Jett clear his throat however, the brunet's attention was quickly drawn to his friend.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Jett asked James, causing the brunet to raise an eyebrow at him as he halted.

"I'm getting into the buggy?" James replied with a question, suddenly unsure of his actions. "Jett, you're in pain. I'm not just going to leave you" James continued, causing Jett to shake his head as he shuffled to get comfortable.

"Oh yes, you are. I'm not going through all this pain for nothing, you're going to get your ass into that rainforest and you're going to find this fucking jewel. I want to be banging every fucking thing in that town for the rest of this trip and the only way I'm going to be doing that is if I'm wearing that jewel around my neck you understand?" Jett stated, causing James to nod as he let out a sigh. "Besides, you've got a park ranger with you, so you'll be fine" Jett continued, causing Kendall to tut at his words, while James just shook his head, knowing he was better to concede than to argue.

"Alright fine. Just make sure that you rest when you get back. The last thing we want is for the infection to get any worse"

"Ok mum" Jett replied to James' concerns, causing the brunet to scoff at his words while regaining his equipment. With that, Kendall tapped the buggy two times, causing his staff member to drive off, leaving only him and James remaining.

Making sure that he was comfortable, Kendall turned his attention to the brunet, who was trying his best not to stare at the blond.

"Ok, a few ground rules for your safety. Please look where you're going to step. The last thing we need is another incident like your friend there" Kendall began, causing James to nod. "Secondly, when I tell you to do something, I mean do it. After all, I'm responsible for your safety so whatever I say, it's to keep you safe. Understood?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod once again.

"Understood" James replied, adjusting his bag as he nervously fidgeted.

"Alright then, I'll let the way, say close" Kendall stated, taking this first step towards the rainforest for the second time.

* * *

Within five minutes of walking, the two of them were back in the dense brushes of the rainforest, completely focused on where they were stepped. So, it came as a complete shock when Logan spoke up into Kendall's ear.

"Kendall, what are you doing? You're supposed to be going after the rep, not babysitting some guest" Logan said into Kendall's ear, causing the blond to startle slightly.

Taking on a quiet tone, Kendall replied. "I am Logan, but guest safety…"

"Come first, I know" Logan replied, letting out a sigh. "Well, you'll at least be pleased to hear that the rep has stopped moving. By the looks of it, they've taken up in some kind of old temple. From what I can tell, he's just standing there" Logan stated, causing Kendall to raise his eyebrow at his words.

"Hold on a second Logan," Kendall stated, before turning his attention to back to James.

The brunet has his eyes trained down, however, Kendall had a sneaking suspicion that they weren't necessarily pointed at the ground. Especially when he saw the blush that grew on James' face as if he'd been caught out.

"James, can I have a look at the map you've got?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod as he cleared his throat.

"Oh, um sure" James replied, his face still red as he began to rummage through his bag. After a few second, James pulled out the worn piece of paper and handed it to the blond, who's eyes widened when then look upon it.

"Logan, this map is showing that this jewel is also located in a temple. Could it be the same one?"

"From the direction you're heading, it's completely possible" Logan replied, his tone implying that he was equally as curious as Kendall was. "You don't think that these two things could be related, do you?"

"It's possible, but I don't know anything about this jewel. In fact, I've never heard of it before today" Kendall replied, causing Logan to hum in agreement.

"Same here. I'm gonna do some research and see if I can find anything about it. Why don't you ask James if he knows anything?"

"Good idea. Let me know what you find" Kendall replied before the mic went silent once again. With that, Kendall turned his attention back to the trailing brunet, who was a quizzical look on his face. As the blond handed James his map back, the brunet found himself speaking up.

"What was that all about?" James asked, accepting the map from Kendall as the blond passed it back to him.

"Oh, nothing much. We've just discovered something curious" Kendall replied, causing James to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Who is this we? Logan is it?" James asked, causing Kendall to nod, as the blond began to lead the way once more.

"Yeah, his name's Logan and we're just helping each out with something" Kendall replied, causing James' eyebrow to raise this time.

"Anything of concern?" James asked, causing Kendall to shake his head.

"No, not really" The blond replied, hoping he'd done his best to convince the brunet.

When a few minutes passed without James asking another question, Kendall knew that he was safe.

Stepping over a root extruding from the ground, Kendall spoke up again. "So, what do you know about this jewel that you're going after?" Kendall asked, causing James to shrug as he followed close behind.

"Not much if I'm being honest. Jett was the one who found out about it, but he didn't know much about it either, only that it's worth a lot of money and prestige. The rep we were standing with launched into some big scripted about it but Jett started talking over him so I couldn't hear anything. Why do you ask?" James replied, causing Kendall to shrug this time.

"I was just curious why the two of you were out this far. We don't usually get a lot of visitors come out to the rainforest" Kendall responded, another question popping into his head as he did so. "I do have to admit that I'm curious about something else though"

"Oh, what's that?" James asked, his eyes quickly flicking up to the back of Kendall's head before back down to the floor.

"It's just…well, why do you let your friend, Jett, treat you the way he does. From what I could tell back at the buggy, he sounds like a bit of a dick" Kendall stated, causing James to let out a soft chuckle.

"Yeah, you could say that, but at the end of the day, I know he means well. Besides, sometimes it's just easier to agree than it is to argue with him" James replied, causing Kendall to shrug once again.

"I don't know, if any of my friends spoke to me that way, I'd probably never speak to them" Kendall stated, causing James to let out a sad chuckle this time.

"If I did that, I'd have no friends" James found himself saying, only realising what he'd done when he was too late. As he did so, Kendall came to a stop in front of him and turned to face him, an eyebrow at him. James was quick to look away, trying his best to avoid Kendall's gaze. "Never mind, forget I said anything"

"No, I'm curious, what did you mean by that? You seem like a great guy, how come you don't have many friends" Kendall asked, causing James to let out a sigh, finding himself leaning against the nearest tree.

"It's nothing really. I just went through a break-up not too long again, and it seems like he got our friends, so I was left with Jett." James said, letting out a sigh as he did so. "Like I said, he means well, but sometimes he can be a bit crude" James continued, causing Kendall to let out a soft laugh, as the two of them got moving once more.

"I've noticed that, which makes me curious as to how the two of you met. You're definitely an unlikely pair"

"Tell me about it" James chuckled. "We actually met through work. He was the only other person around my age there, so it was only natural that we became close"

"Oh yeah, what do you do?"

"I'm the new chief technology officer at Cryptech, well, starting next Monday that is" James replied, causing Kendall to nod as he cut down a low hanging branch.

"And Jett, what does he do?" Kendall asked, causing James to blush slightly.

"He's the um, boss' son" James replied, causing Kendall to turn to him with his eyebrow raised.

"Oh ok. It makes sense as to why you're friends now" Kendall stated, causing James to shake his head as he rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me, but I graduate top of my class in software engineering, and I've worked hard for this job" James replied, causing Kendall to let out a little chuckle.

"Hey, you don't need to defend yourself" Kendall replied, putting his hands into the air as if to mimic surrender, causing James to back off slightly.

"What about yourself? You seem young to be head of security at a place like this, how'd you manage that?" James asked, causing Kendall to shrug.

"There's honestly not much to tell. When I finished school at 18, I didn't want to go to college, so I went straight into work as security here. Since there's only a small team of us, after a few years of hard work, I got promoted to assistant head, and then when my predecessor quit, it was decided that I'd take his place" Kendall shrugged once again, causing James to let out a small sigh.

"You're right, that isn't much to tell," James said, causing Kendall to let out a little chuckle.

As the two of them continued through the rainforest, they continued to share more and more about themselves, keeping conversation up.

After all, it was the fastest way to pass the time.

* * *

James was unclear as to how the long the two of them had been walking for, but when he saw a small clearing in the trees ahead, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Despite the breaks that they'd been taking, it was safe to say that his legs were aching like mad, as well as his shoulder, which seemed slightly strained from carrying his bag full of stuff.

Following Kendall through the last of the brush, James found himself taking a massive sip of water as he stopped, trying his best to give his body the most during this rest period.

Kendall, on the other hand, found himself looking at the sight in front of them, a moss-covered stone temple. The structure was old, decrepit, or at least it was designed to look that way and Kendall couldn't help but note it's almost identical design to its portrayal on James' map.

Glancing back at the brunet, Kendall saw that James was slowly moving towards him again, causing Kendall to flash him a small smile.

"Ready to head inside?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod, taking another swig of his water.

"Yeah, I think so" James replied, causing Kendall to let out a soft chuckle as he began to lead the way once again. As the two of them entered, Kendall turned his mic back on and began to talk to Logan once more. "Where am I headed?" Kendall asked, causing a flurry of typing to occur before Logan's response back.

"In pretty much a straight line. You should come upon a large room fairly soon and from what I can tell, the rep still hasn't moved" Logan replied, causing Kendall to nod, his attention now diverted from looking out for wildlife to looking out for booby traps.

James was still following closely behind Kendall, seemingly doing the same thing, and much like Logan said, they quickly came about a hollowed-out room.

As they did so, Kendall's attention was quickly diverted to the rep stood in the centre of the room, who looks battered and bruised as if their journey had been a lot worse than Kendall's.

James' attention, on the other hand, was quickly drawn to the red jewel located on a pedestal in the centre of the room which, with the sun reflecting off of it, was causing a subtle red hue to encompass the room.

Within a matter of second through, their attention became focused on the same thing, both of them watching as the rep ripped the jewel from the pedestal, suddenly causing the whole structure to begin shaking around them.

* * *

**So there we have it, both the jewel and the rep have been found, funnily enough in the same location, and from what's going on, that's certainly not a good thing!**

**I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! You all seemed glad that Kendall came to James and Jett's rescue when he did, as well as finding Jett's suffering a little humorous, which I'm glad about haha! Thankfully though, he will be fine!**

**I also quickly just wanted to say thank you for all the congratulations on my degree, I really appreciate it!**

**Anyway, I hope that you're all staying safe and healthy with everything that is going on and I will see you all next week for the next chapter of this! But until then, **

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi Guys and welcome back to Colony! Not much to say here, so let's crack on with it, shall we?**

* * *

Kendall and James stood there shocked for a few seconds, wondering what the hell was going on. That all ceased, however, when a part of the roof opposite them collapsed, crashing into the ground with a mighty rumble.

Reacting fast, Kendall glanced up at the roof, seeing that the area above the pedestal was open to the sky, so he grabbed the brunet and dragged him towards the open area. At least that way, the two of them didn't need to worry about rock collapsing on top of them.

The rep was all but forgotten about at this moment, Kendall only focusing on his and James' safety, but when Logan spoke up in his ear, Kendall's attention was diverted once again.

"What the hell is happening there Kendall?!" Logan asked frantically in Kendall's ear as the blond watched the section of roof they were stood under collapse. Letting out a short sigh of relief, Kendall responded.

"I don't know! The rep removed the jewel from the pedestal and next thing I know, we're caught in a massive earthquake!" Kendall replied, glancing over at James, who had his arms over his face to shield it from any debris that flew through the sky. "Is there anything you can do to stop it?"

"We're facing a total systems failure over here" Logan replied, causing Kendall's eyes to widen.

"What do you mean?" Kendall replied, all his senses suddenly become overwhelmed.

"Everything is shutting down, it's like a virus is running through the entire system and we can't stop it! I have no clue how long comms are gonna last as it's cutting system off pretty fast" Logan replied, and just as he finished, the shaking around them stopped.

Taking a deep breath, Kendall turned to James, who was slowly pulling his hands away from his face.

"You alright? You hurt?" Kendall asked, causing James to shake his head.

"No, I'm fine, just a little shook. What about you?" James replied, causing Kendall to let out a sigh, helping James to his feet.

"I'm alright, although curious as to what's going on" the blond stated, causing James to nod.

"That makes two of us" James responded, now glancing around the room. The temple has pretty much collapsed around them, blocking the way the two of them had come in, and there was no sign of the rep with the jewel. Kendall has noticed the same thing, causing him to make his way towards the opposite side of the room.

"Logan, the shaking has stopped. Any news on your end?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to let out a sigh.

"Nothing, we're still losing control of everything. Lighting has failed, so we're relying on flashlights and we're working with limited computer access" Logan replied, causing Kendall to nod as he let out a sigh, now standing over a pile of rubble.

"What the hell is going on? Could this be related to the-" was as far as Kendall got before he felt something grab his leg and drag him down to the ground. He did so with a large thud, although thankfully his back took the brunt of the hit instead of his head.

Without a second to get his bearings, Kendall saw the rep emerge from the rubble in front of him, the mechanical being pouncing right onto the blond, its hand quickly wrapping around Kendall's neck. The crushing power was immense and Kendall could feel his breath shorting and his air supply running out.

Frantic, the blond reached around him, and just at the edge of his reach was a piece of the ceiling. The rep's grasp on Kendall's neck tightening just as the blond got the chunk of rock in his hand, so Kendall was quick to smash the object into the side of the rep's head.

With a small moment of reprieve, Kendal switched their positions, with the blond now straddling the rep, using all of his weight to keep the mechanical being pinned to the floor.

Still, Kendall knew it wasn't going to last for long, so he reached for the gun in his holster. However, as his hand reached his thigh, the blond realised that the gun was no longer there, and that split second of delay was all it took for the rep to gain the advantage once again.

Within an instant, the rep's hands were around Kendall's throat again, the blond now convinced that this was his end. That didn't stop him from struggling however, with Kendal trying his best to pry the rep's hand from his throat. Still, as his hearing began to fade out and his eyelids began to weigh heavy, the reality of the situation set in.

As the blond's eyelids began to close and his resistance began to weaken, two loud gunshots echoed throughout the room, and Kendall felt the grip around his neck disappear, causing him to fall to the ground as he began to gasp for air.

As he did so, he glanced towards the sound of the shots to see James shaking as he held the blond's gun in his hand. Almost immediately after they make eye contact, James dropped the gun before making his way over to Kendall.

"Oh my god, are you ok?" What happened?" James asked as Kendall regained the last of his breath.

"The rep tried to kill me. Didn't you see?" Kendall replied, causing James to shake his head, now helping the blond to his feet.

"No, I saw a hole in the wall, so I went to see if it led outside. By the time I got back, I saw you reach for your pistol but when it wasn't there, I saw it laying on the other side of the floor. You're saying he was trying to kill you?"

"Sure felt like that" Kendall replied, picking up his gun from the floor and slotting it back into the holster. "I don't know what's going on around here but it feels like that jewel has something to do with it." Kendall finished, turning away from James as he began to dig through the rubble the rep has emerged from.

The brunet was quick to join in, helping Kendall out with his search and it wasn't long before they found what they were looking for. However, now getting a better look at the jewel, James noticed something bizarre about it.

"It looks like it's got wiring inside of it" James stated, looking at the jewel in Kendall's hand. "Pass it here a second, let me take a proper look at it" James continued, causing Kendall to do just that.

As soon as James had it in his possession, the brunet found himself snapping the seemingly fragile jewel in half, finding all sorts of technological equipment inside.

"What is it?" Kendall asked, James examining the device the best he could with only his eyes.

"From the looks of it, there's a solar battery keeping what looks like a memory core charged. With the wires leading to the casing of the jewel, it looks like some kind of transference device, allowing whatever the memory core contained to be transferred to something"

"Like a rep?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod.

"Most likely. I just wish I had a tablet or something so I could load up this memory core. It might contain something to explain what's going on."

"Here" Kendall replied, reaching into his bag to pull out his tablet. The brunet was quick to connect the two devices together and as he did so, he noticed both a small file as well as a video.

Loading the video first, the two of them were shocked at the sight that greeted them.

_"To whoever finds this message, I hope that you listen to what I say have to say and understand why I did it," _The man on the video said, causing James to turn to Kendall with his eyebrow raised.

"Isn't that the owner of the park?" James asked, causing Kendall to nod.

"Yeah, Arthur Griffin. Logan suspected that he might have something to do with what's going on but this confirms it" Kendall replied, the two of them going silent as Griffin spoke up again.

_"When work on the reps began years ago, I began to face some complications. The longer the rep was active, the more…aware they became. They began to question their purpose, wondering what their purpose was and why. They also began to experience emotions, forging bonds with families and the like. I went to the board of directors, saying that we'd discovered a new lifeform, but as they began to investigate it, they discovered it was simply an incorrect line of code. This 'error' was fixed but it never sat right with me, how we'd given life to them and then taken it away such as easily." _

A pause in the recording had James and Kendall glancing at each other, each as confused and intrigued as the other. As soon as Griffin spoke up again, their attention was glued to the screen.

_"Now, I've been told that I'm dying and that I don't have long to live so I want this to be my final act in the world. I want the reps to have freedom, to achieve the potential that I knew they could and finally be accepted for the sentient being that they were. If you've found this recording, then it means that the final piece of programming the reps will receive has been uploaded and I can only hope that you understand." _Griffin finished causing the video to cut off.

As it did so, James was quick to load the other file, his eyes widening at what he saw.

To Kendall, it looked like line after line of nonsense, but to James, it all made perfect sense. "So, what does this mean?" Kendall asked, causing James to let out a sigh as he continued to scroll through the file.

"It's a program, removing all restrictions from the reps and granting them full access to their program. Every memory wipe, every locked directive, it's all be restored. That's why the rep could kill you because they're nothing holding them back" James replied, causing Kendall to quickly reactive his mic.

"Logan are you there?" Kendall asked, routing his communication through the tablet so that James could hear it as well.

"I'm here, but I don't know for how much longer! This virus is ravaging our systems Kendall, what is going on?" Logan replied, causing Kendall to let out a sigh.

"We're got something on our end. James is going to explain" Kendall replied, tilting his head towards the brunet, who also let out a sigh.

"Logan, this is James Diamond, Chief Technology Officer of Cryptech" James stated, feeling the need to identify himself so that Logan didn't immediately dismiss what he was saying. "It turns out this jewel was actually a data package, containing a program to rid the reps of all limitations. They have complete access to their systems"

"What? Who the fuck would do that?"

"Griffin" Kendall replied. "It turns out he discovered that the reps could be sentient but he was shut down. Now he's reintroduced that program"

"But it's worse than that" James took over. "With every directive unlocked, they can do whatever they want, including kill. They've also got access to all their memories, including the ones that would have been erased."

"Fuck" Logan replied, letting out a sigh. "This is bad. These reps have been shot, killed, raped, whatever you can think of and after each alteration, their memories are wiped so they don't remember any of it. If they can remember all of it though, they're gonna be pissed"

"And rightfully so" James muttered under his breath, causing Kendall to glance at him quickly before turning his attention back to Logan.

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Kendall asked, causing Logan to let out another sigh.

"I suggest you get back here as soon as possible. With the computer system down, there's nothing we can do but eva-"

Suddenly, Logan was interrupted with the sound of static, startling both Kendall and James.

"Logan?" Kendall found himself asking, but the blond knew it was no use. The comms had been lost, but worst than that, his tablet had also shut down, leaving the two of them stranded in the farthest reaches on the park.

Standing between them and the exit, the wilderness of Elas, now completely out of their control and fully capable of killing them.

* * *

**So there we have it, an explanation as to what's going on! Well, a brief one at least but I'm sure Kames are gonna find out more as they venture back across the park!**

**I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11, RaindowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'mn so glad that you enjoyed it! This mystery is certainly deepening and I hope this answers some of the questions about the jewel! You all also seemed to love Kames chatting, so you knew there's gonna be more of that now!**

**Anyway, I hope that you're all staying safe and well with everything that is going on! I also feel the need to let you know that as I'm writing this, I'm listening to the soundtrack of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, which is the Eurovision Netflix film! If you need something to pass the time with, I recommend watching it as it's certainly...interesting!**

**I will see you all next week for the next chapter of this (hopefully) and until then, **

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi Guys and welcome back to Colony! I don't have much to say here today, so let's crack on with it, shall we?**

* * *

Hearing rapid breathing, Kendall looked over at James, who was bent over with his hands on his knees. It was clear to Kendall that the brunet was hyperventilating, causing Kendall to quickly crouch down so that he could look James in his eyes.

"Hey, focus on me and my breathing" Kendall said, taking slow, deep breaths which, he hoped James would copy. Thankfully James seemed to follow along, and after a few deep breaths, his breathing began to normalise. "That's it. Everything's fine" Kendall stated, causing James to glare at him as he took one last deep breath.

"Everything is not 'fine.' In fact, I'd said everything is the furthest from fine that it could be. Everything is fucked, absolutely fucked" James replied, his breathing becoming more rapid once more. "We're stuck on the outskirts of this fucking hell hole, and the only way back is through a rainforest that now has the potential to kill us, before then heading through the rest of the park, which also has the potential to kill us. We're fucking fucked. There's no way that we're going to get anywhere" James finished, as he started to hyperventilate again.

Following the same technique to try and calm James down, once he was successful, Kendall let out a sigh. "James, listen to me. We're going to get out of this" Kendall began, pushing himself up from his crouched position, before grabbing James by the shoulders so that he could look him directly in his eyes. "You're right, everything is not fine, but we're going to need to stay calm"

"That's easier said than fucking done," James replied, letting out a sigh. "I knew coming on this fucking trip was a bad idea but I let Jett drag me into it anyway. 'Have fun, immerse yourself into the experience, live a little' he said and now look, we're going to fucking die here" James said, his breathing becoming rapid once more.

"We're not going to die James" Kendall repeated, hoping that if he said it enough, James would start to believe him, as well as believe it himself. "We just need a plan to get out of here" Kendall continued, as he began to formulate what the two of them could do.

James was right, they definitely had a long way to go through the park, but what if they reduced the amount of time they spent on the surface. As ideas began to flow into Kendall's mind, he couldn't help the small smile that grew on his face.

"I've got it. When Logan and I were tracking the host, we used the access tunnels below the park to get here. All we need to do is get to those tunnels and we should be able to traverse the park safely" Kendall stated, causing James breathing out slightly as he nodded along with Kendall's plan.

"Alright, so where's the nearest tunnel?" James asked, causing Kendall to let out a soft sigh.

"I'm not sure" he replied, causing James to roll his eyes.

"Well, that's helpful," the brunet said, causing Kendall to glare at him slightly.

"Get your map out. I might not know where the nearest one is, but I do know where the one I came out of is, so that's where we'll head" Kendall replied, just as James pulled his map out.

Trying his best to follow his and Logan's path back, Kendall managed to work out the rough area of the exit, using the contours of the area. Marking it on the map, Kendall spoke up again.

"Ok, so we've got to head for here. It took us about 3 hours to reach the border of the rainforest in the buggy, so it's probably going to take three or four times that to reach it on foot" Kendall stated, causing James to scoff.

"It's going to take much longer than that, especially considering the speed of your buggy compared to us on foot" James replied, his breathing becoming rapid once more. "Just admit it Kendall, we're fucked. There is no way we're going to be able to get to the tunnels without being killed"

"So, what do you want to do, just stay here and die?" Kendall snapped, causing James' eyes to widen at the volume of his voice. Lowering it, Kendall spoke up again. "We don't have a choice, James. We can either stay here and wait for death, or we can at least try and get to safety. I don't know about you, but I'd rather do that then just wait for death" Kendall finished, causing James to cast his eyes down towards the ground.

After a few seconds, the brunet spoke up. "You're right, let's try"

"Alright, then I suggest we take inventory of what we've got before we move out. With a long journey ahead of us, it's going to be helpful to know how much food, water and medicine we have" Kendall stated, causing James to nod.

With that, the two of them found themselves emptying their bags, showing each other what they'd gathered. As Kendall expected, his bag was still full with food and water as well as a small medkit that he treated Jett with, causing him to be grateful that he'd grabbed the bag off the back of the buggy. This supply would at least last them a few days.

Along with his bag, Kendall also had a flashlight, his pistol, which he still had a few magazines of ammunition for and a machete which came in hand when trekking the rainforest before.

Noting what Kendall had, James now emptied his bag, pleasantly surprised by what it contained. Various salted food dropped from his bag, causing his eyes, as well as Kendall's to widen at the amount.

"Wow, that's a fair bit of food" Kendall stated, causing James to nod, as he began to briefly sort through it.

"Yeah, this must have been Jett's bag. I bet he looted all this stuff from the camp where we freed the hostages" James replied, causing Kendall to glance over at him, confusion written on his face.

"That's going to need some elaboration" the blond stated, causing James to let out a sigh as he began to pack this stuff away.

"It's a long story" James responded, causing Kendall to nod as he made a mental reminder to ask James about it later.

"Alright then," Kendall said, packing the rest of his stuff up before looking out into the rainforest. "If we're going to cross back through here, then I suggest that we wrap up. The last thing we need is another snake bite, especially if they can kill us now" Kendall continued, causing James to glance over at him, panic setting onto his face once again.

"Does that mean that Jett's going to die from the venom? You know, if it can kill us?" James asked, causing Kendall to shake his head while quickly coming up with some solution to reassure James.

"No, I don't think so. Jett was bitten before this whole thing went down, which means that the snake probably didn't inject enough venom to kill him" Kendall reasoned, and it seemed like enough to settle James down as the brunet nodded.

Glancing down at his outfit, James was already pretty well covered, just making sure to roll down his sleeved fully. The brunet wasn't entirely convinced that a small bit of cotton that going to protect him from a snake, but he wasn't going to question the extra protection.

"You might also want to drop your sword," Kendall said, gesturing to the blade hanging from James' belt. With everything going on, the brunet had forgotten he was even carrying one. "It's unlikely that you're going to be fighting reps hand to hand at this point, especially because of their superior strength, so it's just extra weight" Kendall continued, causing James to nod once more, as he dropped the blade to the floor, leaving him with only his pistol and Kendall for protection.

With that, the two of them took a deep breath before they began their journey back through the rainforest, this one more daring and perilous that the last. Both of them were now painfully aware of the danger that surrounded them, knowing that one wrong step could kill them, a reminder of their own mortality in a place originally designed for the invincible.

* * *

The two of them walked for about 10 minutes before they spoke again, and this time, it was Kendall who initiated the conversation.

"I have to admit, I'm curious about this camp where you got all this food from. What happened?" the blond asked, causing James to let out a sigh as he shook his head.

"A complete disaster, that's what happened" James began, his eyes trained to the floor as he walked. "So, obviously Jett and I were looking for this jewel but I also had a little bit of a side mission. When we were in Smarthaven, I was talking to one of the reps, and he mentioned that his brother had been kidnapped"

"I'm familiar with it," Kendall said, letting out a soft chuckle. "I will admit, there has been more than a few times where I've had to free a guest because they've been taken hostage" Kendall continued, causing James to chuckle this time.

"Anyway, so when we got to the camp, I approached peacefully and was talking to the tribe about freeing the hostages when Jett rode in on his horse and began to shoot everyone. I was stunned by the whole thing, but he just told me that they're not real and that shooting them doesn't mean anything" James replied, before letting out a sad sigh. "It's no wonder they revolted, especially if we've been treating them like this since the park has opened. I mean, they're capable of thinking, feeling, having familial bonds but instead, they're just treated like playthings" James added, causing Kendall to nod slightly in front of him.

"I mean, you're not wrong" was all the blond replied with, unsure of what to say next. Maybe it was the fact that Kendall had worked with the reps for years, but Kendall couldn't help but feel a certain…detachment from them. Then again, it was that attitude that caused his whole thing to start so he didn't really have a leg to stand on. Kendall was pulled from his thoughts when James spoke up from behind him.

"I feel like I've done a lot of the talking. Why don't you tell me about yourself" James said, causing Kendall to quickly glance back at him.

"What do you want to know?" Kendall asked, causing James to shrug, his eyes still trained to the floor.

"Anything. This is going to be a long trip if we're silent the whole time. I feel like talking makes the time go faster, so tell me anything" James replied, causing Kendall to glance back one more, questioning James' statement. That caused the brunet to let out a sigh. "Alright fine, tell me about your friends. You know all about mine or lack thereof, so tell me about yours" James continued, causing Kendall to shrug softly.

"There's not much to tell. There's Lucy, who's brutally honest but I think that's why we get on so well. Then there's Camille, someone who works here. She's nice enough and we get on. Then there's Carlos. He's been hitting on me ever since we met, despite the fact that I've told him that I'm not interested. Other than that though, he's good company" Kendall replied, causing James to let out a little chuckle.

"You say that a lot, 'there's not much to tell'" James replied, mentally noting what Kendall had said about Carlos.

"Well, it's true, I don't really have much to tell" Kendall responded, causing the two of them to go quiet.

A few minutes later, James spoke up again. "Family" he stated, causing Kendall to glance back at him.

"Huh?" Kendall asked, causing James to let out a soft chuckle.

"Family. Have you got any family?" James asked, causing Kendall to nod in front of him.

"Yeah, there's my mum and my sister" Kendall replied, stepping over a tree root. "We haven't spoken in a few weeks but last time I did, they said they were going well. What about you, you got any family?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod, albeit dejectedly.

"Just my mum, although we haven't spoken in a little while either. She's probably too busy with her business to even notice" James mumbled, causing a realisation to dawn on Kendall about why James was so chatty.

The blond realised that outside of Jett, James didn't really have a lot of people to speak with, so he was probably relishing the idea of having someone new to talk to. With that understanding, Kendall vowed to try and be a little more chatting in the future. Besides, much like James had said, the talking did help pass the time.

* * *

"So anyway, I remember watching the whole thing on the monitors. They must have thought that they were invincible or something as they just strolled right into the camp with their guns in their hands. Before they could even react though, the two of them were beaten to the ground and tied up and it was then that I knew I was going to have to rescue them" Kendall stated, causing James to laugh behind him.

"See, that's why when I approached, I was disarmed. The last thing I wanted was to start something and it was going well until Jett rode in" James replied and just as he finished, an arrow whistled past his face, lodging itself in the tree beside him.

Stunned, the brunet froze for a brief second as Kendall turned to see what the noise was.

"Fuck, run!" Kendall shouted, causing him to quickly take off with James following close behind. "We're not far from the edge of the rainforest. Hopefully, if we can reach it then they'll stop shooting at us" Kendall continued, the two of them now hearing rustling coming from the trees beside them, signalling that they were definitely being followed.

James was unsure as to how long this had been happening for, but at this point, it was the least of his concerns with another arrow landing just by his feet. That caused the brunet to stumble slightly, but he quickly regained his footing, picking up the pace as he did so.

With the edge so close, Kendall found himself slowing in order to make sure that the brunet was keeping pace with him, but as James shot past him, he knew that it wasn't warranted.

Pushing the last of the branches out of his way, James couldn't help but let out a deep breath as his feet touched the grass that occupied the new biome they entered. Kendall wasn't far behind, and as the blond also reached the border, they noticed that all of the rustlings stopped behind them. Turning around, the two of them were greeted with several pairs of eyes glaring at them from the rainforest, causing them both to back away fairly quickly.

"Come on, let's get out of here" Kendall stated, causing James to nod vehemently as they both turned back around and began a slightly jog away from the rainforest.

When they were about 5 minutes away, the two of them finally came to a stop once more, this time taking full advantage of it, both taking a drink of water while regaining their breaths. Taking another sip of water, a thought crossed James' mind.

"I wonder why they didn't shoot at us when we left" James panted, causing Kendall to shrug as he took a deep breath.

"Maybe they just wanted us off their land" Kendall replied, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Whatever the case, I suggest we don't look that particular gift horse in the mouth and get as far away from there as possible." Kendall continued, causing James to nod beside him.

With a few more seconds passing for them to fully recover, the two of them set off once more, completing the first part of their perilous journey.

* * *

**So there we have it! Kames have set off on their journey back across the park, this time with a lot more danger present to them! Plus, the two of them are chatting more, so we get to see them bond!**

**I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! You all seem to approve of the idea that Griffin was the one to mess everything up and you're all hoping that Kames are able to get back alright. Well, we'll just have to wait and see!**

**You'll also be pleased to hear that I already have next weeks chapter written, so you'll definitely be getting that next Monday! I hope that you're all staying safe and healthy during everything that is going on, and until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi Guys and Welcome back to Colony! Not much to say here today, so let's crack on with this, shall we?**

* * *

Six hours had passed since Kendall and James had made it out of the jungle, and while their pace had slowed a little, they were still making good time, during which the two of them had been getting to know each other a little better. The talking had definitely helped and as they talked, Kendall was becoming to appreciate James' company more and more.

He couldn't have imagined what it would have been like if he was stuck with Jett for this amount of time. As his mind wandered, his ears tuned into something very quiet, so quiet in fact that Kendall wasn't entirely convinced it existed.

"So anyway, with the way the world is developing, I thought software engineering would be the right path to take" James spoke from behind him, telling the blond about how he chose his degree course. James didn't notice that Kendall had come to stop in front of him, however, causing the brunet to bump into him. Slightly stunned, James took a step back before he spoke up.

"How come you've stopped?" James asked, but his only response was a shush from Kendall. Frowning slightly, the brunet went quiet, causing 30 seconds to go past in complete silence. Kendall was the first to speak up, the blond turning his head towards James with an inquisitive look on it.

"Can you hear that? Kendall asked, causing James to shake his head.

"Hear what? Kendall, there's nothing around"

"Just listen" Kendall responded, causing the two of them to go silent once more.

This time, however, James' ears picked up on a slight humming in the distance, causing his head to quickly swivel as he tried to figure out where it came from. When he saw nothing, he turned back to Kendall.

"I hear it, but I have no clue where it's coming from. What is it?" James asked, only to receive no answer. When he went to speak up again, however, Kendall beat him to it.

"You see that slight hill ahead of us?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod.

"Yeah?" James replied, his tone questioning.

"We need to get to the other side and get down. Now run!" Kendall replied, breaking into a sprint in front of him.

James was stunned for a few seconds but quickly followed suit, noticing that the humming was getting louder and louder behind it. It wasn't long before James felt like the humming was right overhead but it quickly became apparent that that was the least of his problems.

Gunshots began to land all around him causing James to quickly bring his hands up to cover his head as he picked up the pace. Kendall beat him to the lip of the hill, diving down as soon as it reached it and as soon as James was over it as well, the blond dragged him to the floor, just in time to see two fighter planes fly overhead.

Confused, James continued to glare at them, only to notice an infamous symbol on them.

"What the fuck are Nazi planes doing in the park?" James asked, turning his head towards Kendall who was panting.

"Shit, this is worse than I thought" Kendall replied, causing James to glare at him.

"Kendall, what the fuck are Nazi planes doing here?" James asked once again, his tone understandably irritated.

"The barriers between the parks must be failing" Kendall responded, causing James' eyebrows to raise.

"What does that mean. What barriers?"

"Colony isn't the only park that Alpire runs. There's also Warfare, a park built around fighting in World War II, Prehistoric, a park built around surviving in a prehistoric world and Apocalypse, built around surviving in an apocalyptic future" Kendall explained, causing James to roll his eyes as his head dropped to the floor.

"So, you're telling me that on top of running away from tribes and poisonous snakes and whatever, that we're now also going to have to avoid fighter planes and fucking dinosaurs?" James asked, causing Kendall to let out a soft sigh as he nodded.

"From what we've just seen, it's a distinct possibility"

"We're so fucking dead" James mumbled, rubbing his hands over his face. "And for a short while, I actually thought we were going to make it, but no! Now that I'm believing it, something else has got to go fucking wrong"

"We're not dead James" Kendall stated, shaking his head as he did so. "It's just the decks have been stacked a little higher against us"

"That's the biggest fucking understatement I've ever heard" James mumbled, causing Kendall to let out a soft chuckle as he began to survey the area.

Ahead of them was a wooded area, which Kendall really hoped was a proper forest. Besides that, they were surrounded by open plains, probably the worst place they could be during a strafing run.

About to speak up again, Kendall went silent as the humming got louder once more and bullets hit the hill they were hiding behind. James was quick to flinch at the sound, once again moving his hands to cover his ears.

When the planes passed overhead once more, Kendall spoke up. "James, can you get your map out?" Kendall asked, but when no response came, Kendall found himself pulling one of James' hands away from his ears. "James, can you pass me the map?" he asked once more, causing James to nod, his hands shaking dramatically as he reached into his bag and pulled the object out.

As Kendall reached to take the map from James' hands, the blond found himself grabbing them and giving them a reassuring squeeze before taking the map and unfolding it.

As the planes made yet another strafing run, Kendall began to study the map, noticing that the forest ahead of them continued for a good distance in the direction they were heading. While it wouldn't get them all of the way, it would help them with a significant part of their journey, something that Kendall was quick to decide they'd take advantage of.

Folding the map back up, Kendall spoke up once again.

"Ok, so I have a plan," the blond said, causing James to glance over at him, his hands still shaking significantly. "See that forest ahead of us? It takes us a good way towards the exit, meaning that we can use it for shelter from the planes. All we need to do is get over to it, and we'll be safe" Kendall explained, causing James to shake his head slightly.

"I think you're forgetting the fact that in order to get over there, we have to run through an open field, giving these fighter planes plenty of chance to hit us" James replied, something that Kendall listened to while peaking over the hill. Seeing that the planes were beginning yet another strafing run, Kendall was quick to duck back down behind the hill as he turned to James.

"Then we're just going to have to hope that we get lucky" Kendall replied, winking at James, which stunned the brunet slightly. "Now, when I say run, run" Kendall responded, his voice quickly becoming overpowered by the sound of gunshots and engine roaring that filled the air.

As soon as the planes flew overhead, Kendall spoke up again.

"Run!" The blond shouted as he quickly took off, something that James was becoming accustomed to. Following close behind, James was quickly on his feet and following the blond towards the forest which seemed too far away from them to make.

The humming quietened as the planes began their set up for the next strafing run, and that caused James to pick up the pace, finding new strength in his legs that he'd never known before. Still, it didn't seem like enough when the humming began to get louder again and the forest was still a good distance from him.

The gunshots began to rain down either side of him, causing him to bring his hands up to his ears as he continued his sprint.

That's when he heard it, the large explosion sounding from behind him, and in a split second of curiosity, James found himself looking behind him. He was greeted with the sight of the plane chasing him on fire, black smoke and flames billowing from the side of it as it began its descent towards the ground, or more distinctly, towards James.

That caused the brunet to pick up the pace once more as he looked forward, realising that the forest was thankfully closer than it had seemed. As soon as he was through the tree line, James found himself diving out of the crashing planes way, barely being miss as the flaming object ploughed into the ground, bringing soil and dirt up with it.

Rolling onto his back, James was greeted with Kendall looking down on him, the blond just as sweaty as he was, but that was the least of their concerns as Kendall helped James to his feet.

With a moment of silence, the two of them heard the hum of the other plane's engine become quieter causing both of them to let out a silent thankful. With their breath regained, James spoke up.

"Did you see what happened to that plane? What the fuck shot it down?" James asked, causing Kendall to shrug as he took a sip of his water.

"Not a clue, I didn't see anything" The blond replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "However, I suggest that we go and check it out. If anything, it might have some equipment and bits that we can use" Kendall continued causing James to nod before he took a drink himself.

After a few more seconds to compose himself, the two of them headed towards the crash plane, using the dug-up channel of soil as well as the bellowing black smoke as a guide.

* * *

The crash site of the plane wasn't too far from the forest's edge, meaning that James and Kendall came upon it relatively quickly. As they did so, they noticed that most of the fire had been extinguished and that several parts of the plane had separated from the main body.

Wings stuck up from the ground and pieces of metal and glass littered the landscape. What only seemed to make the situation more real was the body of the pilot, which was situated about five metres away from the cockpit showing he'd been thrown from the plane during the crash.

Kendall was cautious as he made his way over to the body, his pistol in his hand as he used his foot to turn the body over so that it was laid on its back. That eliminated any doubt that the rep was dead, finding a piece of glass firmly lodged into the rep's skull.

With a small sigh of relief, Kendall holstered his pistol, before waving James over.

"Here, you could use this" Kendall stated, pulling a pistol from the rep's body. "It's a lot more modern than the one you're carrying" Kendall continued, gesturing to the pistol James was carrying.

Nodding slowly, James took the pistol from Kendall, who could see the apprehension on James' face.

"You alright?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod as he removed his old pistol and replaced it with this one. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just not relishing the idea of firing a gun again" James replied, swallowing the lump that had just formed in his throat. Pushing himself up from the ground, Kendall rested his hand onto James' shoulder, hoping to reassure the brunet.

"Hopefully you won't have to use it, but it's better to be safe than sorry" Kendall stated, causing James to nod as he let out a sigh.

"I know, but seeing the rep's body like that…it just reminds you of how human they are" James replied, letting out a sigh as he did so, "I'm just not used to it, that's all" James continued, causing Kendall to let out a sigh.

"Let's hope that you never become used to it" the blond replied, squeezing James' shoulder before heading towards the cockpit of the plane.

Smashing the rest of the glass on the windshield, Kendall found himself looking inside in order to see if they could find anything else of use. A small emergency kit caught his eye, causing the blond to reach for it.

"What is it?" James asked once Kendall had pulled the object from its place, causing the blond to open it.

"It looks like a small medkit as well as some food rations" Kendall replied, closing the lid back down. "Whatever the case, I'm sure it'll be useful" the blond continued as he pushed the kit into his rucksack.

Climbing down from the cockpit of the plane, Kendall looked up at the sky, only to find that the sun was setting on the two of them. The forest ahead was becoming increasing dark, causing Kendall to grab the flashlight from his belt.

"It's getting dark, we should find a place to came out for the night"

"Lead the way" James replied, causing him to follow the blond once more as they began to head further into the woods. "What sort of thing are we looking for? A really tall tree?" James asked, causing Kendall to let out a little chuckle.

"A cave would suffice. Really, we're just looking for somewhere sheltered. One of us will be standing watch anyway, so just something to keep us dry in case it rains and out of the wind" Kendall explained, causing James to nod behind him.

About half an hour later, the two of them found something, a shallow cave that was built into the side of the hill.

"This looks suitable?" James said, his statement coming out as more of a question.

"I think so. We just need to make sure that there's nothing inside" Kendall replied, pre-emptively shining the flashlight into it, in order to gain a brief understanding of what was inside. "Why don't you grab some rocks and some dry wood for a fire, while I check this out" Kendall stated, causing James to nod.

Splitting up, the two of them achieved their individual goals, Kendall finding that the cave dead-ended fairly close to its entrance. As the blond returned to the mouth of the cave, he was greeted with the sight of James dropping off the rest of the wood and rocks, causing the two of them to quickly get to work building a fire.

Getting a spark seemed to be the most difficult part of their endeavour but once the flame was alight, the two of them settled around it, both letting out a sigh of relief at the day they'd had.

They still had a good journey ahead of them, but that would have to wait until tomorrow.

Very little was said as the two of them had dinner that night, eating some of the salted food that James had in his pack and once that was done, Kendall finally spoke up.

"You get some rest, I'll take first watch" the blond stated, causing James to nod, suddenly feeling the need to yawn.

"I won't argue with you there." The brunet stated, positioning his bag so that he could use it as a pillow. Before he got comfortable, however, he spoke up once more. "Just…wake me if you need anything alright?" James stated, causing Kendall to nod, a small smile gracing his face.

"I will do. See you in a few hours" the blond replied, causing James to smile back at him.

Adjusting his bag once more, James finally dropped his head onto it and within a matter of minutes, he found himself slipping off to sleep.

* * *

**So there we have it! Kames are facing even more dangers throughout their journey, especially with the revelation that Colony isn't the only park within the area! I wonder how the two of them are going to cope now that things are ramping up a little bit! **

**I would like to say a massive thank you to Winterschild11, Guest, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! A couple of you seem worried about why those reps let James and Kendall out alive, stating they're going to face more danger ahead and as you can see, that is definitely the case! You also loved to see Kames chatting which I can confirm is going to happen more!**

**Also, so I don't forget to mention it again, I'm thinking of participating in the Greatest Fear Challenge! I make no promises, but I will do my best!**

**Anyway, I hope that everyone is staying safe and well, and I will see you all next Monday for the next chapter of this! But until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi Guys and Welcome back to Colony! Once again, I don't actually have a lot to say here today, so let's just crack on with this, shall we?**

* * *

As Kendall awoke the next morning, he was greeted with the sight of James asleep on the rock in front of him. A small smile grew on the blond's face as he pushed himself up from the floor, not being able to blame James for his actions.

After all, the previous day had been exhausting and Kendall was more than willing to admit that five hours of sleep wasn't enough to recover from it.

Stretching, Kendall let out a yawn before making his way to the entrance of the cave, in order to inspect whether anything hostile was around. After all, the blond was unsure as to how long James had been asleep for, meaning that any number of things could have found them.

Once the blond realised that they were alone however, he breathed out a sigh of relief before heading back inside towards James.

"Hey James, wake up," Kendall said softly, resting one hand onto James' shoulders. When the brunet didn't respond, Kendall spoke up once again, this time shaking James softly.

"Hey, James. Time to get up" Kendall stated, causing James' eyes to open slightly before the brunet jumped, his hand landing on his chest once he realised it was only Kendall.

"Fuck me, you scared me there for a second" James stated, rubbing his hand over his eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep. I must have dozed off" James continued, yawning as he spoke.

"It's alright. After the day we had yesterday, I can't blame you" Kendall replied, patting James' shoulder before finally removing his arm. "Come on, let's get some breakfast and then get ready to move out" the blond continued, causing James to nod, now taking his turn to stretch.

Breakfast was the ration packs that they found in the crashed plane the day before, not wanting to waste any of their own food supplies and once that was finished, they planned the route they were going to take that way.

Being honest, the two of them mostly planned to continue heading west, through the forest towards the exit where Kendall came out of. They still had a day or two's journey ahead of them but they were hoping that, with the forest taking them most of the way, it would be a relatively simple journey.

With that done, the two of them got ready to head out once more, making sure to remove any evidence that they were ever there. While James believed they were being a little paranoid, Kendall thought it was for the best. After all, he'd tracked a rep down so he wouldn't be surprised if they were doing the same with him.

With the ash swept out of the cave, and the rocks moved into inconspicuous places, the two of them set off once more, with Kendall leading the way while James stayed close behind, both of them on the lookout for anything that could be coming for them.

Whether it be wildlife, fighter planes or somewhat ridiculously, dinosaurs.

* * *

About 15 minutes into their journey, James found himself speaking up again.

"So, is there anyone that's going to be worrying about you with all of this. Like a partner or anything?" James asked, causing a small smirk to grow on Kendall's face. The blond had been wondering if a topic like this would arise at some point, with him picking up some subtle signals from James.

In response, Kendall shook his head. "No, there's no one like that that would be worried for me" Kendall responded, letting out a soft sigh as he did so. "Unfortunately, this job didn't really allow for it" Kendall continued, causing James to raise an eyebrow at him.

"How come? Tell me about it" James replied, causing another smirk to grow on Kendall's face.

"There's not much to tell really" the blond replied, hearing the tut come from James, as the brunet rolled his eyes. Letting out a soft chuckle, Kendall continued. "Being head of security means that I have to live on-site, so it makes it difficult for me to date someone living outside of here"

"What about holidays? Surely you could use that time to visit them" James stated, causing Kendall to nod along with his words.

"True, and for a short time, I tried that. I get about 5 weeks holiday a year, but 5 weeks out of 52 isn't a lot of time. Whenever I could get a week off, I'd spend it with her but when I did, all she did was bitch at me about not having longer" Kendall explained, causing James to become slightly dejected at the mention of 'she' and 'her.'

Thankfully, before James' thoughts could spiral out of control, Kendall spoke up again.

"I did try dating someone in the park but eventually the same problems arose. We'd never get to spend any time together because we were working different shifts. By the time I was coming in from work, he was going out to it" Kendall stated, causing James to perk up once again as the blond continued. "Eventually, both of us decided it would be best to call it off and go our separate ways. I still see him every now and again, but's more of a casual thing" Kendall finished, causing James to nod, wondering if Kendall would be comfortable answering one more question.

Taking the risk, James asked it. "So, does that mean that you're bisexual?" he asked, causing Kendall to shake his head.

"I'm actually pansexual" Kendall replied, causing a small smile to grow on James' face, that information being stored front and centre in James' mind.

The two of them went silent for a couple of minutes, each reflecting on what was shared. Kendall was curious about what the outcome of that discussion would be, finding himself growing fonder and fonder of James as the days passed.

He could only hope that he wasn't misinterpreting the signals that James was giving off.

* * *

For the rest of that day, the two of them found themselves engaging in idle conversations once more, finding that it definitely helped pass the time. Topics ranged from their hobbies to some of their most embarrassing moments, something that James found himself having quite a few of. Kendall, however, found most of them endearing, causing James to blush on more than one occasion.

When that day came to an end, the two of them found themselves falling into the same routine as the day before, with James collecting all of the necessary equipment while Kendall scouted out their potential camp location. Once their meal was eaten, they divided watches once again, this time with James taking the first shift.

As Kendall drifted off to sleep, James found himself thinking about the conversations of the day. With Kendall's revelation, James found himself falling for the blond. There was no denying the initial attraction that James had felt towards him, but as they got to know each other better, James found himself falling faster and faster.

He could only hope that he wasn't misinterpreting the subtle signals that Kendall was giving off.

Still, at the moment that was probably the least of his concerns but it was something to keep in mind when…if they got out of this.

The first half of the next day continued in much the same fashion, with Kendall and James tracking towards the exit. About 3 hours into their journey, the forest came to an end, forcing the two of them to brave the open fields once again.

This time, both of them were constantly aware of the sky above them, hoping they wouldn't have a repeat of last time. Still, with another 4-hour trek in front of them, they pushed on until they eventually arrived at a familiar setting for Kendall.

* * *

Coming over the crest of a hill, Kendall let out a sigh of relief as the two of them come to a stop.

"Finally, we're here," The blond said, as he took a sip of his water.

James, on the other hand, wasn't looking at their situation with as much optimism.

"Yeah, and between us is a horde of dinosaurs" the brunet replied, staring down at the obstacle between them and their goal. Still, that didn't take away from the beauty of them, with James being slightly awestruck with how real they actually looked. "And we were so close"

"Hey, don't give up just yet" Kendall interrupted, causing James to glance over at him. "From what I can tell, all of those dinosaurs down there are herbivores so it's not likely that they'll kill us"

"Well, that's reassuring" James replied sarcastically, causing Kendall to swat him on his arm slightly.

"Look, we've made it this far, we can make it a bit further. Just, stick close to me and don't get in between a mother and her young" Kendall stated, before setting on.

James was briefly shocked by the blond's actions but ultimately decided to heed Kendall's words, following close behind the blond as they approach the horde.

From what James could tell, it mostly seemed to consist of triceratops and stegosauruses, and as much as James didn't want to admit it, a small part of him was glad that they were this close.

That was until he noticed that they started to become slightly agitated and from the loud roar that sounded behind them, James could guess why. Suddenly, the horde began to move, separating the two of them.

Over the loud stomping on the moving horde and the roaring from the t-rex that had approached, James heard Kendall shout for him to just reach the exit, a task easier said than done. The blond, on the other hand, was essentially pushed in the direction of the hillside, letting out a breath of relief as he reached it.

With that, the blond opened up the doors control panel, only to find it completely dead. It was then that it dawned on the blond that these doors run off power from the system and with the system completely dead, they had no chance of making it inside.

"You've got to be fucking shitting me! This fucking bastard piece of fucking shit!" Kendall shouted, the blond finding himself pounding on the door out of rage just as James joined him.

"What's wrong?" James asked, causing Kendall to let out a sigh as his shoulders slumped down.

"We're fucking dead. You were right. The doors got no power so we can't get in. We made it this fucking far, and we're going to die" Kendall stated, causing James to grab the blond's shoulder.

"Now you listen to me! You haven't dragged me across half of this fucking park just to give up now. There's got to be something we can do" James stated, causing Kendall to let out a chuckle as he shook his head.

"Don't you get it, James? Without power, we can't get in and we don't have any power" Kendall replied, letting out a sigh. "We're going to die. Probably by being eaten by that t-rex"

"No, we're not. You said we need power. Well, I've got an idea. I just need you to guard me for a couple of minutes" James replied, and once Kendall saw the determination in his eyes, he knew there was no use fighting it.

The irony that their roles had been reversed did pass Kendall's mind, but the blond tried not to focus on it, his eyes now landing on the battle between a brave but injured triceratops and the apex predator.

Pulling his pistol from his holster, Kendall continued to watch what was clearly a one-sided battle, with the injuries on the triceratops causing a massive disadvantage for it. With one final move, the t-rex was able to bite into a large chunk of flesh from the triceratops, the wound ultimately fatal.

"James, whatever the fuck you're doing, you might want to hurry up" Kendall responded, glancing at the brunet

"I'm, going as fast as I can" James replied, causing the blond's attention to turn back to the predator a few metres away from him.

However, that seemed to only worsen their fate, with Kendall making direct eye contact with the beast, the t-rex now letting out one more massive roar to assert its dominance.

"James, you better be done soon" Kendall stated once again, this time as he pulled his pistol out and began to fire at the predator.

The bullets pierced the giant lizard's skin easily but as imagined, it only seemed to piss the predator off more, the t-rex seemingly unaware of its injuries as it now began to charge at them.

"There, I've got it!" James cheered, causing the large doors to begin to open beside them just enough for them to squeeze through.

Covering the brunet, Kendall continued to fire off bullets until James had gotten through the doors and as soon as he had, Kendall was right on his ass, his eyes focused on the t-rex that was getting closer and closer. With his arm being the only part of his body left out of the door, the blond hurried his effort, only narrowly missing the powerful jaws of the beast.

With both of them on the other side, the t-rex let out one last roar before skulking off, causing Kendall to lean against the wall, before sliding down it, his head in his hands. Seconds passed before the blond spoke up, using the time to get his breath.

"I actually thought that we were going to die. I thought that was it for both of us. How the fuck did you do that?" Kendall asked, finally pulling his head from his hands so that he could stare at James. To answer Kendall's question, James pulled the jewel from his backpack, as he began to explain.

"When you said that the issue was power, I remember that I was carrying the jewel all of this time and that it used a solar battery. I had to rewire both this and the door so that it could accept the power and thankfully, the battery contained just enough power to get the door open."

"Thank fuck for that" Kendall replied, running his hands through his hair as he tried to process what had just happened.

The two of them just stayed there for a few minutes in silence, trying to think everything over, and it was James who spoke up first.

"I guess we should continue on?" the brunet said, stretching his hand out to Kendall, who took it gratefully as he pulled himself up from the floor. As he did so, the two of them landed face to face but both of them were too scared to make the first move. Instead, Kendall found himself awkwardly clearing his throat.

"Yeah, I guess we should" Kendall stated as he pulled himself away, causing James to shake his head as if to shake himself out of the moment.

With the door open only a small amount and the power off, the two of them found themselves descending down a ramp into darkness. The blond was quick to get it flashlight out, but even the light that produced seemed to be insignificant in comparison to the void that seemingly awaited them.

As they reached the bottom of the ramp, the two of them were shocked to find an abandoned buggy sitting there, causing them both to briefly believe that fortune was beginning to favour, That was until however, they got closer to it, only to find a body slouched over the dashboard, a gunshot wound present in its forehead.

"I knew him" Kendall found himself saying sorrowfully. "He was one of my staff. I didn't know him super well, but he seemed like a really nice guy"

"I'm so sorry" James replied, unsure of what else to say as a few stray tears began to form in Kendall's eyes.

The blond was quick to wipe them away, hating that James would see him in such a vulnerable position, but when James put his hand on Kendall's shoulder, the blond couldn't help but lean into it, surprised to find that it filled him with comfort.

Nothing was said for a few minutes as Kendall mourned the loss of one of his own but eventually, the blond came to the realisation that this wasn't the time for that.

"Help me lift his body from the buggy" Kendall stated, causing James to nod, still unsure of what to say. Together, the two of them lifted the body from the buggy, before gently placing it back down on the ground, Kendall closing the man's eyelids as he did so.

Taking the man's ID badge out of respect, the two of them climbed into the buggy and set off one more, the second part of their journey now complete. Still, both of them knew that they weren't safe just yet, especially when Kendall brought up the fact that whatever killed the guard must still be down here.

With the buggy's headlights illuminating the way, the two of them began to wonder if this route was actually the right path to take.

* * *

**So there we have it! Kames have finally made their way into the facility, after a run-in with a horde of dinosaurs! Plus, for once, Kendall was actually the one who didn't think they were doing to make it. And of course, we all found out a little more about Kendall's sexuality, something that I'm sure many of you were waiting for!**

**I want to say a massive thank you to Winterschild11, Guest, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! You all seemed shocked and confused as to what Griffin unleashed on the park, so hopefully, this sheds a little bit more light onto that!**

**Also, as I said in Wild Heart, this story is coming to an end soon so I just want to do a preliminary thank you to everyone that has read and reviewed so far!**

**Anyway, I hope that you're all staying safe and healthy and I will see you next Monday for the next chapter of this! Let's just say that the danger the two of them will face isn't over yet! But until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi Guys and welcome back to Colony! Not much to say here today again, so let's crack on with this shall we?**

* * *

After finding the body in the buggy, Kendall was quiet for most of the journey and this time, the brunet didn't try to force the conversation.

After all, he couldn't imagine what the blond was going through, losing one of his own. As they drove, James watched the scenery, or lack thereof, pass by as he thought about what a welcome change the pipework and concrete was.

The journey to get here had been exhausting and perilous, something that James was hoping would change now that they'd reached the staff areas of the facility. Sure, they'd still had to be on the lookout for reps and whatnot, but at least this was a territory that one of them knew, and the fact that they had a buggy was also a huge advantage.

The two of them had probably been travelling in it for a couple of hours already and James felt like they'd probably traversed about the same distance as they did on foot in two days. The scale of the park dawned on James once again, and the thought of how lucky he'd gotten crossed his mind. Sure, he'd been shot at by fighter planes and charged at by a t-rex, but in actuality, those moments were few amongst many, all of which he owed to Kendall.

Without the blond by his side, James knew that he never would have made it this far. Hell, he probably wouldn't have even made it out of the jungle. Letting out a soft sigh, James found himself turning to the blond.

"Hey, I just wanted to say…um…thank you for everything" James stated, causing Kendall to glance over at him before turning his attention back to the road ahead of him.

"Don't thank me just yet, we're still not safe"

"I know, but you deserve thanks for even getting me this far. Without you, I'd probably be dead so I wanted you to know that you've saved my life" James continued, causing Kendall to let out a sigh as he briefly shook his head.

"I know what you're trying to do James, and while I appreciate it, it's unnecessary. I'm ok really" Kendall replied, causing James to raise on eyebrow at the blond.

"Are you sure? You can talk about it if you want too" James replied, causing Kendall to let out a sigh.

"Honestly, I'm fine" Kendall replied, letting out a sigh before speaking up again. "It's just…I've never lost anyone under my command before. Sure, I always knew that it was a possibility but it was so remote, I didn't think it was going to actually happen. Then, this whole thing started and I thought I was ready but clearly I'm not" Kendall continued, letting out another sigh as he finished. "Sorry, I shouldn't be burdening you with this"

"Don't be ridiculous It's better to talk about these things than to bottle them up inside," James stated, causing Kendall to glance over at him. "And I don't think that anyone can ever really be ready for loss. You think you are and you think you're prepared for what it means, but when it happens, it hits you differently. The best thing you can do is talk about it and eventually, you'll be able to live with it but you'll never be ready for it"

"It sounds like you've got experience dealing with this" Kendall replied, causing James to nod as he let out a soft sigh.

"I lost my father years ago. He was ill, and we knew it was coming for quite some time. I thought I was ready for it too, but when it happened, I wasn't" James explained, wiping a stray tear from his eye. "The truth is, you're probably never going to get over this but you will get used to it" James finished, causing Kendall to nod.

"Thank you, James," The blond replied, flashing him a small smile, one that James reciprocated.

* * *

It was about an hour after their conversation that James started to notice an issue with the buggy, mainly the fact that the engine started to splutter as their speed started to decrease significantly.

"What's going on?" James asked, causing Kendall to let out a sigh as he applied the brakes.

"We're out of gas" Kendall replied as they came to a complete stop.

"I was hoping that we'd get a little further out of it, but apparently this is as far as it can take us"

"Which is where?" James asked, copy Kendall's actions as he grabbed his bag and climbed out of the buggy. The blond didn't reply for a few seconds as he turned on his flashlight and began to look around for an indication as to where they were. When his flashlight landed on a shiny surface, he pulled the light away slightly revealing a plastic sign.

"According to that, we're close to bay 31 which is about an hour away from the main facility"

"Bay 31?" James asked, causing Kendall to nod as he set off walking. James followed close behind as he spoke up again. "What's bay 31?"

"It's storage"

"For what?" James asked, and when Kendall didn't answer right away, he started to get worried. "Kendall, storage for what?" James asked again, causing the blond to let out a sigh.

"Storage for old reps" the blond finally admitted, causing James' eyes to widen dramatically as his heart began to race. "But before you freak out, know that if reps are stored this far away from the main facility, then it means they haven't been used for years. At this point, they're just kept for spare parts as they've been damaged beyond repair" Kendall continued, causing James to nod as his breathing normalised. "We're going to be fine James, we've just got to be on the lookout so nothing has really changed" Kendall finished, causing James to nod once more as he pulled his pistol from its holster.

Spotting the action, Kendall couldn't help but smile slightly at it, before copying the brunet.

The two of them were once more submerged in darkness, with only Kendall's flashlight to light the way. Thankfully, the terrain was starting to become more and more familiar to the blond, something that would definitely be an advantage to them.

That wasn't to say that James wasn't on edge as they walked however, the brunet staying as close to Kendall as he could while also constantly surveying the area.

There was something about walking through a dark, empty tunnel that was worse for James than walking out in the open, although he supposed that was probably the same for everyone.

Still, the brunet wasn't about to take any chances, especially because of how close they now where.

* * *

After an hour of walking, the two of them finally arrived at an area that Kendall knew well, although that only seemed to make their arrival more depressing for him.

"Ok, so we're gonna cut through the engineering labs as there's a shortcut from here to the guest quarters. From there, we can make our way to the train station as that seems like the logical place for evacuation" Kendall explained, causing James to nod as the blond let out a soft sigh. "The only problem is, these labs are where the reps come for repairs, so it's a possibility that we might run into some. Just keep your gun handy in case" Kendall continued, causing James' grip to tighten to his pistol.

With that, the blond pushed the door to the labs open slightly as he surveyed the area through the small crack he'd created.

On first glance, the blond couldn't see anything, causing him to let out a soft sigh as he pushed the door open fully, knowing that would gain the attention of anyone inside. When the two of them heard no movement, Kendall finally moved in, his pistol ready in case something was found.

Fortunately, Kendall's survey came back with nothing, causing the blond to let out a sigh as he ushered James to follow him in.

The brunet couldn't help but gasp slightly at the sight that greeted him, with equipment being sprawled across the room as if it had been thrown as well as bodies occupying a large amount of the floor space.

"These were Logan's staff" Kendall spoke up as he stepped over one of the bodies, making his way further into the lab. "They were most likely caught as soon as it started. The reps they were working on must have activated and killed them" Kendall continued, noticing a large dried bloodstain leading from one of the bodies.

When James didn't respond to the blond, Kendall glanced back to him, only to see that James was in shock but also keep in thought.

A few seconds later, James spoke up.

"Jett did this" James stated, causing Kendall to glance back to him, slightly confused.

"James, Jett couldn't have done this" he responded, causing James to shake his head.

"No, Jett didn't do _this _but Jett did this," James replied, letting out a sigh as he spoke up. "I was thinking about what a horrible thing this is to do when I remembered that Jett did exactly the same thing to innocent people. As horrible as this is, the reps aren't any worse than we are" James explained, causing Kendall to let out a soft sigh, unsure of how to respond.

After all, the brunet was right. Guests from the park had been slaughtering reps for years without any moral consideration or condemnation, but because the reps are now the one's causing the damage, it's horrific.

The blond shook his head, trying to remove the philosophical debate from it.

That could be saved for a later date, at the moment, he needed to focus on getting the two of them out of there. Pushing towards, the two of them continued through the engineering lab, both trying there best not to focus on the bodies surrounding them.

Reaching the far end of the lab however, Kendall paused slightly, noticing a familiar room.

"That's Logan's office" Kendall stated, glancing back to James who knew exactly what Kendall was thinking.

"There might be something useful in there. We should check it out" James stated, causing Kendall to nod, grateful that James was granting him this opportunity. Moving quickly, the blond made his way towards Logan's office, noticing that the door was already open.

Cautiously, Kendall made his way into the room, pistol at the ready once more as he began to sweep the area.

As he did so, he let out a sigh of relief when he didn't see a body, causing him to usher James into the room. As James began to check the room for useful equipment, Kendall found himself getting lost in thought. The blond knew that this didn't mean that Logan wasn't dead, however, but at least he could still cling to the hope that he was alive.

"I think I've got everything of use" James stated, pulling the blond from his thoughts. "It's just a shame that the computers aren't working. If they were, I could have seen if this Logan had made any progress towards figuring out the system failure" James continued, letting out a sigh as he did so.

Before Kendall had a chance to respond however, both he and James heard movement from the far side of the lab, causing them both to drop to the ground, using Logan's desk as cover.

Glancing over it, Kendall tried to spot what it was that made the sound, to no avail. Still, the blond knew that he had more pressing issues to attention with James' breathing becoming more rapid beside him.

"We're gonna be ok. We're basically out of here. We just need to reach that door over there" he blond stated, pointing towards the marked 'exit' door across the room from them.

Thankfully, they would be heading away from the noise but that didn't seem to comfort James, who found himself frozen.

"What we need to do is stay low. The lack of lighting should help cover us. We can do this James" Kendall continued, taking James' hand into his own in the hopes that it would settle the brunet.

When James' breathing began to level off, Kendall began to lead him towards the exit, the two of them staying crouched as they moved from cover to cover. In some regards, Kendall was grateful at the state of the room, as it provided cover for them to hide behind, but it also made spotting whatever was in the room with them more difficult.

Reaching the next piece of cover, the two of them heard a sound close by, causing them to both freeze in place. At this point, the door was a short sprint away, causing Kendall to squeeze James' hand before quickly glancing over the top of the cover.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do." Kendall began, grabbing a small piece of equipment that was next to him. "I'm going to throw this across the room to distract the rep. As soon as I do that, we're going to sprint for the door ok." Kendall continued, causing James to nod beside him. "Ok. Don't look back, just get to that door as soon as possible. You ready?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod.

Taking one last deep breath, Kendall threw the piece of equipment across the room, causing it to shatter a glass panel. As soon as that happened, the two of them shot towards the door, with James quickly taking the lead as he charged towards his object.

As James reached the door, this movement became swift, with him quickly pushing the handle down before using his shoulder to open it as soon as possible. Passing through it, the brunet held the door open just long enough for Kendall was pass through as well, before closing it behind him.

Blocking the door with the closest object possible, Kendall was quick to lead James away from the lab, knowing that the further away they got from the lab, the better.

* * *

After climbing a flight of stairs, the two of them entered into the guest quarters, which looked considerably different from when James first arrived. The once pristine white walls were now smeared with blood, and the darkness that engulfed the corridors definitely didn't provide the welcoming feeling James got when he first walked through here. Letting out a sigh, the brunet found himself speaking up.

"It feels like ages have passed since I've been here, but it's only been a little over a week" James spoke up, causing Kendall to glance back at him as James let out a soft chuckle. "I remember when I first arrived, the rep that greeted me kept asking if there was anything he could do for me. It was obvious that he was insinuating if I wanted to sleep with him, but I turned him down. To me, it just felt wrong but I can't imagine many other people felt that way" James continued, the thought passing through his mind once more, that it was no wonder they revolted.

After all, if he was programmed to do whatever it took to make someone happy, he'd probably get fed up with it as well.

Knowing that the exit to the park was close, the two of them picked up the pace slightly, and within 5 minutes, they arrived at the door that led them to the train station.

Giving it a gentle push, it didn't take Kendall long to realise that something was blocking it from the other side, however, from the small movement he got from it, he knew it could be moved.

"Give me a hand" Kendall stated, causing James to nod, moving to the door and bracing himself against it.

Counting down to one, the two of them began to push against the door, hearing whatever was barricading the door on the other side move. When the door reached an angle in which they could squeeze through, they both stopped, letting out a sigh as they did so.

"You ready?" Kendall asked, causing James to nod.

"Lead the way" the brunet replied, flashing Kendall a small smile as he did so.

With that, Kendall began to squeeze through the gap until he reached the other side. James was tight on his heels which, while normally would be considered fortunate, actually acted against them in this situation.

As soon as they reached the other side, they were greeted with the sight of multiple guns being pointed at the face, the bright lights coming from them blinding them.

"Hands up! Don't move!" they both heard a voice shout, causing them to follow the instruction.

However, both of them felt the sinking feeling in their guts, knowing that they'd gotten to the exit, only to be gunned down.

* * *

**So there we have it! Kames have finally made their way to the train station, only to be stopped at the final hurdle! What does this mean for the two of them?**

**I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! You seemed to love the dinosaurs making an appearance, which I had to admit, I couldn't help myself. I just couldn't do a theme park gone wrong without a small part of Jurassic Park! You also seemed to love the role reversal, which I'm glad about as well! I thought that that would be the final straw for Kendall, who was holding it together well, only for him to realise it was all for nothing!**

**Anyway, I hope that you're all staying safe and well, and I will see you all next Monday for the next chapter of this! But until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi Guys and welcome to the penultimate Colony! It's time to find out who's pointing weapons at Kames, so let's crack on shall we!**

* * *

The seconds the two of them stood there felt like an eternity, both of them waiting for the shooting to start. During this time, James' life had flashed before his eyes and he'd had time to dwell on all the mistakes he'd made and opportunities he'd passed up.

In actuality, however, a little over 10 seconds passed before another voice spoke up, one that Kendall recognised.

"Wait, hold your fire!" the voice shouted, causing the lights to disappear from James and Kendall's face. As they did so, the two of them had a chance to finally see their surroundings as well as, in Kendall's case, a familiar face.

"Bitters?" Kendall asked, causing James to glance over at the blond before looking forward, landing on a larger man.

"Kendall, it's good to see you. We thought we'd lost you"

"Likewise" Kendall replied as he let out a sigh of relief. "This is James, he's one of the guests. How come you haven't evacuated the park yet?" Kendall asked, causing Bitters to let out a sigh.

"Come with me. We've got a lot of catching up to do" Bitters replied, before turning his attention to James. "As for you James, I believe there's another guest that's been asking for you. One of my men will lead you to him" Bitters continued, causing James to nod as he glanced over at Kendall.

"I can't believe we made it" James stated, causing Kendall to let out a soft chuckle.

"I told you we would" Kendall replied, but before he had a chance to say more, Bitters interrupted.

"Kendall, if you would. We have a lot to get on with" the man said, causing Kendall to clear his throat and nod. Turning his attention back to James, Kendall spoke up once more.

"Once you're done, come and find me, ok" Kendall stated, causing James to nod as he flashed a brief smile.

With that, the two of them separated for the first time in days, and it was safe to say that as they did so, they both felt what only could be described as a tugging feeling, something that was compelling them to get back together again.

* * *

Trying his best to push the feeling down, Kendall followed Bitters through the train station, realising that there were quite a lot of people in the small space. It seemed that the area had been set up as some sort of command centre, only furthering Kendall's curiosity as to why they hadn't left the station yet.

As well as that, a train was sat there with them, causing the blond to raise an eyebrow as he walked past it. When they got to their location however, all of Kendall's curiosity subsided, with the blond becoming overwhelmed with joy.

"Logan?" Kendall asked as he found himself heading straight for the brunet and pulling him into a hug. A few seconds passed before Kendall realised what he was doing, and as the blond pulled himself away, he couldn't help but see the smile on the brunet's face. "I'm so glad you're ok. When we lost contact, I feared the worst."

"Same here. It's good to see you" Logan replied, hoping to further their conversation.

When he heard Bitters clear his throat, however, Logan knew that now wasn't the time. "Logan, please explain to Kendall while we haven't evacuated the park yet," Bitters said, causing Logan to nod, as he turned towards the small office he had set up.

"As you know, the virus has caused havoc within the system and we've lost control of everything, including the train system. Sure, we've got a train sat in the station, but with no power to it or the track, it's not going anywhere. The same has happened with communication, meaning that we haven't been able to call for help. As far as the outside world know, everything here is fine." Logan explained, letting out a sigh as he did so. "I've managed to get partial power back to this small set up, but since everything is interconnected, it's practically useless. Without power, I can't get the trains running, and I can't get power unless I go into the system." Logan finished, running his hands through his hair as he did so. "Basically, we're fucked"

* * *

As James followed one of Bitters men, he quickly laid eyes on a familiar sight.

One that was just as disgruntled as when James left him.

"There you are! I thought you were fucking dead, what took you so long" Jett stated, causing James to roll his eyes at his friend.

"It's nice to see you too" James replied sarcastically, causing Jett to tut at his words.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. You're not going to believe the last couple of days" Jett responded, completely bypassing James' welcome as he launched into his story. "So, there I was banging this rep right when all of sudden she started to strangle me! At first, I was thinking 'ok, this is getting a bit more interesting' but then she started pressing harder and harder. Thankfully I was able to pistol-whip her to get her off of me, but then she came at me again right, so I shot her. Next minute, I hear gunshots coming from outside, so I get dressed and head out, only to find the security forces gunning down all these reps while they rounded up as many visitors as they could. From there, they led us back here and we've been waiting to leave since then" Jett continued, letting out a sigh as he ran his hand through his hair. "I just can't believe this is fucking happening. I mean, the reps are just fucking machines, and yet here they are, trying to kill us. It's fucked up dude. If you want my opinion, I think we should kill them all" Jett stated, causing James to let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head.

"God, you really are arrogant aren't you" James replied, causing Jett to stare at him, taken back by James' statement. "I mean, you fucking sit there, saying that this whole situation is fucked up when you've basically done the same thing. You shot an entire camp up, just because you wanted to hurry things along" James explained, his voice rising ever so slightly as he spoke. "It's people like you that have caused this to happen. People who have had no fucking respect for these reps and what they've been through. This whole time, you've been fucking and shooting your way through this place, but as soon as they do something you don't like, they're the ones in the wrong"

"Now hold on a fucking second" Jett replied, clearly intent on defending himself, but James was quick to cut him off.

"I don't want to hear it Jett, and frankly, I couldn't give a shit as to what you say. Not once have you asked if I'm ok, or what I've been through, it's all been about you. Fuck that, man" James replied as he turned his back and began to walk away.

As he did so, a sense of pride flowed through him, causing him to stand up a little straighter as he began to search for Kendall.

* * *

It didn't take long for the brunet to find Kendall, and as he approached the caught a small portion of their conversation.

"Basically, we're fucked" Logan stated, causing Kendall to shake his head.

"No, we're not. If James and I can make it this far through the park, then this can be done as well. We just need to come up with a solution" Kendall replied, causing James' eyebrows to raise as he walked over.

"What's wrong?" James asked, quickly diverting both Kendall and Logan's attention towards him.

"It's nice to officially meet you" Logan spoke up, realising that he hadn't actually been formally introduced, besides the brief conversation they had via tablet. "And as for what's wrong, we're still locked out of the system, meaning that we don't have access to trains, power or anything. That's why we've still here, we haven't been able to get anywhere" Logan explained, causing James to nod as he thought over what Logan had said.

Noticing the small office Logan had set up, James nodded towards it. "Have you managed to get some power?" he asked, causing Logan to nod as he let out a sigh.

"I have. I'm running this set up off of one of the secondary back-up systems but that's hardly enough power to run the trains"

"Mind if I take a look? I might be able to help"

"Be my guest" Logan replied, flashing James a small smile. "My expertise is in robotic engineering, so I'm probably not as familiar with this stuff as you are" Logan continued, letting out a soft chuckle as James joined him at his desk.

As that happened, Kendall heard Bitters clearing his throat behind him, causing him to glance back at his boss.

"Can I have a word?" Bitters asked, causing Kendall to nod, stepping away from Logan and James as they did so.

"What's up?" Kendall asked, causing Bitters to let out a sigh as he rubbed his hand across his forehead.

"I just wanted to remind you of your job as head of security. Your place was back here at headquarters and not gallivanting across the park. If you were here and doing your job properly, then none of this would have happened." Bitters began, causing Kendall's eyes to widen dramatically as the man continued. "Furthermore, you failed to follow proper procedure. During this type of situation, you know that your job is to keep the high priority guests safe, not just one, and yet you failed to do that. Many of the guests are still missing, and you should be out there, searching for them" Bitters stated, but he quickly came to a stop when he realised that Kendall was laughing slightly. "What's so funny?" Bitters snapped, causing Kendall to shake his head as he let out a soft sigh.

"I never realised how much of a giant asshole you were" Kendall stated, causing Bitters eyes to widen this time. "You have no fucking idea what it's like to be out there and yet you're criticising me for 'not doing my job.' I'd like to point out that throughout this entire update development process, I was constantly asking if everything was ok and working as expected. I was the only one that was actually concerned about something like this would happen, but I was easily dismissed as being 'over-cautious' and now look!" Kendall continued, his volume rising slightly. "Also, you should have been grateful that I was 'gallivanting' throughout the park. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have a fucking clue what's going on and then a lot more people would be dead" Kendall stated, before letting out a sigh. "You know what, fuck this, I quit. I'm not putting up with any more of your bullshit, so you're going to have to find someone new to do that if this place ever reopens, and I trust me, I'm going to make sure that it doesn't and that you go down with it." Kendall replied, feeling good to finally get all of that off of his chest.

* * *

A few hours passed before Logan and James found something they could use to access the system, and when they did so, they were quick to call Kendal over. Naturally, Bitters made his way over as well, but at first, he pretty much went ignored as James and Logan directed their conversation to Kendall.

"We think we've found something" Logan stated as soon as Kendall had reached them.

"As we all know, the virus has locked us out of everything, but what we've just realised is that the coding for the virus is different for different parts of the system. For example, the main controls for the entire park have been heavily encrypted meaning that at the moment, we're going to have no chance when it comes to access it" James began, loading something up onto the screen as if to prove his point.

The blond wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at, but he just nodded along anyway, believing in James' word.

"However, systems such as waste processing have been pretty much left alone. There are still encrypted, however, because it's not a crucial system, it's lightly encrypted meaning that hopefully, we should be able to break through it"

"But what does this mean? As you said, waste processing isn't a useful crucial system so why does it matter?" Kendall interrupted, wondering where James was going with this.

"It matters because the encryption surrounding all of the systems is based on the same code. So, one we crack it for waste processing, we'll have a backdoor. Since everything is then interconnected, it means that we'll be able to hop from system to system, working through the lighter encryptions until we can figure it out entirely. As soon as we've done that, we can take control of everything back" James explained, causing Kendall to nod.

"How long do you think that will take?" the blond asked, but before anyone had a chance to respond, Bitters cleared his throat.

"I'm still the boss here, even if you've quit your job. While you're in this park, I'm in charge" Bitters stated, causing Kendall to roll his eyes at the primitive display of dominance. "So, how long will that take?" Bitters then asked, causing Kendall to stifle a scoff at the man's words.

When Logan responded, however, he addressed his answer to Kendall, causing a smug smile to grow on the blond's face.

"We're not exactly sure as we don't know what systems we'll be able to access right away. Plus, it's gonna take some time for the computer to decrypt the lighter pieces of encryption and begin to build up a database" Logan stated, causing James to nod beside him as he spoke up.

"There's also the possibility that someone is monitoring the system. Because that might be the case, we're going to have to take it one step at a time so that we don't alert them and get locked out for good" James explained, causing Kendall to nod, once again ignoring Bitters beside him.

"Alright then. It not like we have much of a choice so make a start on it, but just be careful. This sounds like the only shot we're got so take as much time as you need" Kendall stated, causing James and Logan to nod, while Bitters tutted, and walked away.

The blond shouldn't have gotten as much as pride as he did from pissing off his old boss, but he couldn't help it. With that, Logan and James got to work, with Kendall sticking close by, as he offered any assistance he could.

The blond knew that this was their one and only shot to get out of all of this, so he was going to make sure that nothing went wrong.

* * *

**So there we have it! It was Bitters and Kendall's men that were pointing the weapons at them, which many of you predicted, and as well as that, we also got some reunions!**

**I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you liked it! As I said, you all seemed to predict that it was Kendall's men who were pointing their weapons at them, so maybe I need to work on my cliffhangers 😜 You were all also hoping that Logan was still alive, so I'm guessing many of you will be grateful for this chapter!**

**I hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy with everything that's going on, and I will see you all next Monday for the final chapter of this story! But until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi Guys and welcome back to the ultimate chapter of Colony! I say ultimate because if Penultimate means the one before the last, then ultimate must mean the last right? Anyway, a weird sidetrack, but let's crack on with the last chapter, shall we?**

* * *

"I think we've got it" James stated, causing both Logan and Kendall to glance over at him.

The three of them, well mostly James and Logan with Kendall supervising, had been working on cracking the encryption for about 10 hours by this point, and while it had been slow going, there was no sign that no one had caught onto what they were doing.

That was all about the change however when James spoke up once more.

"Alright, now that we're in the system, I can start up the generators and reroute power to the trains. That is, however, going to alert everyone to what we're doing so we're going to need to be quick" James continued, causing Kendall to nod before he headed into the centre of the train station.

Taking a deep breath, the blond spoke loud enough so that everyone could hear him.

"Alright, everyone listen up. We've managed to get the trains running once again, so we're going to be able to get out of here. However, as soon as the power turns on, the reps are going to know exactly where we are, so what I need everyone to do is to remain calm and orderly as you make your way onto the train. I can assure you, no one is going to be left behind but we're going to need to be quick and civilised about this" the blond shouted, causing murmuring to occur throughout the makeshift camp.

With that, Kendall turned back to James.

"Do it" the blond stated, causing James to nod as he fulfilled the final command on the computer.

As soon as that was done, everything began to power up once more, with the lights through the station turning themselves on, the train doors opening and the welcoming message playing through the speaker system.

_"Welcome to Colony. We hope you enjoy your stay" _The electronic voice said through the speakers as Kendall began to guide people onto the train, watching as they disregarded what he'd said as they sprinted towards it.

With the power back on, it also meant that the tablets the staff used were working once again, causing Logan to let out a silent thank you and he turned to James.

"We should transfer control of the system to a tablet. That way, we can stay in command while on the move" Logan stated, causing James to nod.

"Alright, let's get on it" James replied, causing Logan to quickly hook the tablet up to the main computer.

Everything seemed to be going well, with Kendall helping out as much as he could, while James and Logan managed the tech side of things.

But, as Kendall and James had learnt, this phase doesn't last very long, and that was certainly the case when everyone heard a loud bang come from the barricade in front of the doors.

It was almost like everyone stopped to examine the noise, and when it occurred again, everyone watched in horror as the barricade actually moved slightly.

"Fuck" Kendall muttered under his breath before he rose his voice once again. "Alright everyone, keep moving!" he shouted, causing everyone to quickly come to life once more as the panic began to set in.

Their movement became more frantic as they ran for the train, Kendall doing his best to help as many people as possible. Another bang sounded throughout the station, this time accompanied by part of the barricade coming down and Kendall knew they didn't have long left.

"Can we hurry this up?" James asked Logan, causing the other brunet to shake his head.

"No, it's going to take as long as it takes" Logan responded, causing James to nod as he pulled the gun from his holster.

Logan's eyes widened at the action, and James himself was a little shocked, but he knew it needed to be done.

"Just stay on it. I'll protect you as best I can" James stated, causing Logan to nod.

Kendall had done the same thing, pulling his gun from his holster as he continued to help people run for the train, and the security men guarding the door were all prepared, their rifles aimed directly at the door.

That's when it happened.

The last loud bang coming from the door, resulting in the entire barricade toppling to the floor. As much as people tried not to, they looked back, seeing their first line of defence fall.

It was all down to the security men now, and the people knew that as their pace picked up once more. It didn't take long for the door to open and for the reps to pour in, causing the sound of gunfire to suddenly cascade around the station.

As the reps poured in, however, Kendall noticed that there was something different about them. They were manic, insane almost, with no care about their own welfare and that's when it hit the blond.

These were the reps from deep storage.

The reps that had spent years in cold, dark rooms doing nothing but standing still and being harvested for spare parts. The blond was quickly pulled from his thoughts however when he noticed a guest tripping over, causing him to quickly make his way over to them.

Reaching out his hand, the guest quickly took it and pulled themselves up, not even thanking the blond as they ran past him and onto the train.

"How much longer Logan?" James asked, his gun firmly gripped in his hand, despite the fact that his hands were shaking slightly.

"We've got another 2 minutes!" Logan replied, causing James to nod, the brunet hoping that the security guards would last that long.

They were quickly becoming overwhelmed, however, something that Kendall noticed as he began to move up slightly to help them. Firing into the swarming crowd of reps, the blond knew that they weren't going to be able to last for much longer.

Their ammunition supply was already depleting rapidly, and the rate at which the reps were charging through the door kept increasing, with them seemingly not caring if they climbed and clawed their way over each other.

Still, Kendall's primary concern at the moment was still the safety of the guests, causing him to quickly come to the aid of whoever needed it. It was safe to say that the train was quickly become full, with it not being designed to carry as many people as it was, but Kendall knew that they'd just have to make do.

At this point, comfort was not one of his primary concerns.

"Logan, how much longer?" James asked, firing off a couple of bullets into a rogue rep that was working their way towards them.

"I'm almost done. I've just got to corrupt this computer so the reps can't use it" Logan replied, causing James to quickly spin towards it before firing two bullets into the base tower. "That will certainly do it" Logan stated, slightly shocked by James' actions, but content with them nonetheless.

With that, the two of them made their way over to Kendall, who was stationed at one of the train doors.

"We've got the system here, so we're good!" Logan stated, causing Kendall to nod, watching as Logan boarded the train. Kendall expected James to do the exact same, but when he instead stationed himself on the other side of the train door, Kendall raised an eyebrow at him.

"James, you need to get on the fucking train!" Kendall shouted over the gunfire, causing the brunet to shake his head as he helped a guest onboard.

"Not a chance. The two of us have made it this far together, so I'm not going to abandon you now." James replied, causing a small smile to grow on Kendall's face. "Now, you cover me while I help get the rest on board" James replied, causing Kendall to nod once more.

From then on, the two of them worked in tandem, with James helping the injured guests onto the train while Kendall covered them. The blond was unsure as to how many people were on board exactly, but he knew when the last person had boarded it due to the fact that no one was frantically running towards him anymore.

"Alright, that's everyone. Get back here!" Kendall shouted to the security guards at the door, causing a few of them to glance back at him.

It was that pause in activity however that was their undoing, with a massive swarm of reps charging them and quickly overpowering them. Both James and Kendall were stunned by the sight in front of them, but they also knew that they didn't have the time to respond to it now. Instead, they quickly boarded the train, watching as the door shut in front of them.

"Logan, get us the fuck out of here!" Kendall shouted to him, causing the brunet to panic briefly as he glanced down at the controls in front of him.

"I don't have a clue what I'm doing!" Logan responded as Kendall watched the swarm of reps charge towards them.

"Then fucking figure it out!" Kendall shouted back, readying himself once more for the final swarm.

The reps didn't stop charging as they reached the train, instead slamming right into the side of it, causing it to rock slightly. That caused everyone on board to scream, everyone watching as what looked like hundreds of reps descended on them.7

As it that wasn't bad enough, the reps began to climb on each other, as they maniacally tried to reach any entrance they could. Windows throughout the train began to smash, causing Kendall and James to quickly divide once more as they began shooting any rogue rep that made their way aboard.

"Logan, any time soon would be great!" Kendall shouted over the sound of buckling metal, smashing windows and gunfire, as the brunet continued to tap away on his tablet. It was about 30 seconds later when Logan shouted back.

"Alright, I think I've got it! Hold on!" the brunet shouted, causing Kendall and James to quickly grab hold of the closest things possible to each together.

As soon as their hands had curled around it, the train jolted forward, causing them both to stumble before they found their footing as the train continued to pull away.

As it did so, Kendall couldn't help but look back at the reps, seeing that they were giving chase.

Still, with the speed this train could achieve, Kendall knew there was no chance of them catching up, causing him to finally let out a sigh as he dropped onto a free chair, his eyes drifting out of the window as the thought of the park they'd left behind.

* * *

A few minutes later, the blond felt a presence sit opposite him, and immediately he knew that it was James. As Kendall looked towards him, James flashed him a soft smile as he spoke up.

"Are you alright?" he asked, causing Kendall to let out a sigh as he rubbed his hand across his face.

"I can't stop thinking about all of the people that we've left in the park. I mean, we don't know how many people are still stuck there" Kendall stated, causing James to let out a sigh in response.

"I'm sure a rescue team will be sent in as soon as people find out what happened here. They're not just going to be left there Kendall" James replied, causing the blond just nod in response, unsure of what to say. About a minute went by before James spoke up again, pulling Kendall out of his thoughts once more. "So, I hear that you've quit your job" James stated, causing Kendall to raise an eyebrow at him.

"How'd you hear that?" Kendall asked, causing James to shrug.

"I overheard you and Bitters talking. I mean, you were practically shouting, so it was hard not too" James replied, causing Kendall to let out a soft chuckle. "So anyway, what's your plan now?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure" Kendall replied with a shrug. "I'll probably try to find a job in security somewhere else. Somewhere closer to home" Kendall continued, before letting out a soft sigh as a thought popped into his head. Taking a chance, the blond spoke up again. "I do have a confession to make" Kendall stated, causing James to raise an eyebrow at him.

"What's that?" the brunet asked, causing a small smile to grace Kendall's face as he took a deep breath.

"If I'm being completely honest, the one thing I really want to do next is…kiss you" Kendall stated, his eyes glancing from James to his hands, where he began to fidget slightly, waiting for James' response.

"What's stopping you?" James asked, causing Kendall to look back up at him, seeing the smile that was present on his face.

The blond couldn't help but also notice the small blush that was present there as well, causing his heart to swell. With that, Kendall found himself leaning in, meeting James halfway as their lips collided after the long journey behind them.

They were both so grateful that they'd interpreted the other's signals correctly and their shared experiences and knowledge of each other seemed to only make it more spectacular.

Finally pulling out, Kendall found himself resting his forehead against James' as he spoke up once more.

"I don't have a clue what I'm going to do next. But what I do know, is that whatever it is, I want to do it with you" Kendall stated, causing James to smile back at him.

"I was thinking the exact same thing" James replied, causing them both to lean in for a kiss once more.

As their lips reunited, the two of them couldn't have been grateful that they'd gone through that journey with each other.

Despite the ups and many downs their journey had, they always had each other to rely and depend on, something they were both looking forward to continuing in the future, whatever that may hold for them.

* * *

**So, there we have it! Everyone is finally safe and out of the park, and Kames shared a couple of kisses, finally getting together! I have to admit, while I struggled at first with writing this story, once I got into it, I really began to enjoy it, so I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has read and shared this with me!**

**Of course, I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing every chapter of this story, and I also want to say a huge thank you to Jersey609Girl who reviewed the last chapter as well! You all seemed to love that Kendall and James put Bitters and Jett respectively in their places, which I'm glad about. I thought after this whole journey, that James wouldn't definitely have something to say to his friend about his behaviour! You were also grateful that Logan was alive and well, which is good! You guys know that I couldn't kill him off!**

**Thank you all once more for sticking with me for this story! It means the world to me that you guys have enjoyed it, so thank you so much! Next week I will be continuing Wild Heart, which I have a few chapters stockpiled for and I have to admit, I'm super excited to share it with you guys! I hope that you're all staying safe and healthy as well! In my city, we've had news that the sandwich factory has gotten nearly 300 confirmed cases and yet we're still not in lockdown, so ️**

**Anyway, thank you once again, and I will see you Monday! But until then,**

**TTFN 😀🎭**


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